China is secretly helping to rearm Russia’s military, according to new analysis by a leading US think-tank.
The shocking data shows Beijing is playing a leading role in helping Putin rebuild his army, despite China not shipping any weapons to Russia.
Putin arrived in China’s capital on Thursday for a two day state visit, during which he and President Xi Jinping discussed forging closer military and economic ties.
Economic links between the two countries have been booming ever since Putin sent his troops into Ukraine.
According to figures provided by Chinese Customs, bilateral trade last year jumped by 26 percent to $240 billion (£190bn).
Beijing insists it is complying with western sanctions and not shipping any armaments to Moscow.
However, China is exporting to its neighbour items such as semiconductor chips, navigation equipment, jet parts, ball bearings – all of which can be used in the production of weapons.
The items are designated as “dual-use”, given that they can also be used to manufacture non-military products.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies has put together data which reveals the sheer scale of Chinese “dual-purpose” items going to Russia since February 2022.
Analysts identified products they labelled as “key military goods” – these include electrical equipment, machinery, and vehicles as well as materials such as iron, steel, plastic and rubber.
As Moscow prepared for Ukraine‘s counteroffensive back in the spring of 2023, there was a huge jump in imports of these products to Russia.
This spike also coincided with a visit by Xi to Moscow to hold talks with his close ally.
Although other countries such as India and some EU states also shipped “dual-purpose” goods to Russia, China is by the far largest exporter.
Elina Ribakova told the Financial Times it was obvious that Xi was helping Putin militarily.
The senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics said: “China is Russia’s most important partner now, buying its commodities and supplying goods, including battlefield items.”
The White House is so concerned about Beijing’s surreptitious military support for Putin that it imposed swingeing sanctions on 20 companies in China at the beginning of May, with the threat of more to come.