cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/41892362
- Publicly, China has feigned neutrality when it comes to Russia’s invasion. But its supply of drone parts suggests a strong military partnership between Beijing and Moscow.
- Chinese companies directly supplied parts and materials worth at least £47m [EUR 54m] to Russian firms sanctioned for producing drones, from 2023 to 2024, a period when Moscow was building large-scale logistics infrastructure for its domestic drone programme.
- Goods directly exported by China to Russia included aircraft engines, microchips, metal alloys, camera lenses, fibreglass, emulsion binders for fibreglass, and carbon fibre yarns – all key components to produce the drones that wreak nightly havoc on Ukraine. The investigation identified 97 Chinese suppliers.
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A positive bilateral relationship is “critical for their economic survival”, said Andrea Ghiselli, a lecturer who specialises in China’s foreign policy at the University of Exeter.
“One has a very important interest in the survival of the other; this is not going to change. It’s a simple, geographic fact,” he said, as the two countries share a 2,600-mile border.
This approach gives Beijing room to accuse the West for being the ones to foment war by dispatching weapons systems and military support to Ukraine.
“It gives them the possibility to say, ‘we don’t support Russia; no, we don’t provide military support’,” Mr Ghiselli said. “It’s a fig leaf, but it’s deniability, and that’s important.”
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Chinese firms including Changzhou Utek Composite, Taishan Fiberglass, Jilin Hongsheng Trading, Yongji Rongdu Commercial and Trading, and Hebei Jigao have supplied a range of fibreglass and carbon fibre products, such as yarns, binding agents, processing components and glass fibre powder – all sent directly to Russian firms operating in Alabuga involved in the production of Geran/Shahed drones.
Harbin Bin-Au Technology, Jinhua Hairun Power Technology and Shandong Xinyilu International Trade have also supplied aircraft engines and components worth at least £860,000 to Drake LLC, which operates in Alabuga.
Over just three months in 2023, China’s Ningbo Peak Cloud Import and Export sent aircraft and aircraft engines worth £3m to Russia’s Ural Civil Aviation Factory, sanctioned for manufacturing combat drones, including the Forpost, used to monitor troop movements and strike critical infrastructure.
The Telegraph has also identified five Russian firms, all globally sanctioned, that are responsible for importing components from China, and directly source a large share of Chinese parts used in drone manufacturing.
Those Russian firms – Ural Civil Aviation, Akmetron, PT Electronic, PT Elektronik and Radioline – have purchased a range of components from Chinese suppliers, such as Asia Link Shanghai International Logistics, which has sent everything from metal products to electronic chips.
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China has gone so far as to reportedly allow Russia to establish a weapons programme on its soil to develop and produce long-range attack drones – specifically the Garpiya-3 – and to deliver finished systems to Moscow, as described by intelligence sources to Reuters in 2024.
None of the companies contacted by The Telegraph replied to requests for comment; not all firms could be reached.
At a time when Western partners have cut ties with Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, China has come to the rescue, filling the trade gap by buying Russian oil and selling everything from cars to electronics.
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Getting directly involved in the war by sending military hardware or troops – as North Korea has done – would be far too risky to China’s own strategic interests.
Beijing has therefore supported Moscow from the sidelines by allowing Chinese firms to export goods with dual commercial and military purposes, pushing bilateral trade to a record £210bn in 2024.