Blinken calls for Xi to ‘police’ Chinese companies aiding Russia’s military

The U.S. is calling on China to crack down on private companies that are supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday following a face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The U.S. has asked China to be “vigilant in policing” that private companies do not sell sanctioned materials to Russia that aid its military, Blinken said. 

The Biden administration and its allies have seen their sanctions against Russia undermined by countries and companies that have allowed certain exports to the country that can be repurposed for military means, so-called “dual-use” technologies. 

“What we are concerned about is private companies in China that may be providing assistance, in some cases dual use and some cases clearly directed at enhancing Russia’s military capacity in Ukraine. That is a concern, and it’s something that I pointed out to our Chinese counterparts and urged that they be vigilant in policing that,” Blinken said. 

But the secretary said the U.S. has not seen anything to suggest the Chinese government has violated its assurances to not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine.  

“This is something that China has said in recent weeks, and has repeatedly said not only to us, but to many other countries that have raised this concern, that they are not and will not provide lethal assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine,” Blinken said.

“And that’s an important commitment and important policy, and as I said, we’ve not seen anything right now to contradict that.” 

Blinken’s remarks came at the end of a two-day summit in Beijing, where he met with Xi and China’s most senior foreign policy officials. The secretary is next headed to London for the Ukraine Recovery Conference that will look to galvanize public and private sector support to help Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts. 

While Xi has stood by Russian President Vladimir Putin since he launched his invasion of Ukraine and has held back from joining in on international sanctions — in particular buying up Russian oil exports — the Chinese leader has appeared to heed international warnings against supplying weapons directly to Moscow.

Xi has also offered to work toward a peace settlement between Kyiv and Moscow, though those efforts have been met with skepticism in the West.