On Friday, US President Joe Biden stated that he believed China had not sent arms to Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s forces’ invasion of Ukraine.
During a visit to Canada, he held a news conference and said, “I’ve been hearing for the past three months that China is going to provide significant weapons to Russia… They haven’t yet.
It doesn’t mean they won’t, but they haven’t yet.” While also suggesting that reports of China and Russia’s rapprochement had probably been “exaggerated,” he added, “I don’t take China lightly. I don’t take Russia lightly.”
Conversely, Biden stressed the strong ties among Western democracies, saying “if anything’s happened, the West has coalesced significantly more.”
The US security alliances in the Pacific region
He pointed to US security alliances in the Pacific region such as the Quad which also includes Australia, India and Japan and as well as AUKUS with Australia and Britain.
During a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow this week, Russia and Beijing for their part hailed “the special nature” of their relations.
But while China’s leader pledged a trade lifeline and some moral support, more conspicuous was that he did not commit to providing arms for Russia’s depleted forces in Ukraine, a move that would have invited Western sanctions on China
There was also no long-term Chinese commitment to buy vast quantities of Russian gas that is no longer flowing to Europe.
