Despite Western pressure, China in no hurry to reduce Russia support
dual-use materials and weapons components to Russia, Beijing has no interest in dropping its backing for President Vladimir Putin, analysts say.
While China does not want to upend its ties with the West, and insists it is not sending lethal weapons to Moscow, Washington has stressed that Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without Beijing.
On Thursday, Putin arrived in China on a two-day visit as Moscow is seeking more support from President Xi Jinping for the war effort in Ukraine following multiple rounds of Western sanctions.
The high-profile talks follow Xi's summit last week in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who welcomed «commitments» of China to «control strictly» the exports of dual-use goods while also evoking concern about «information that we may have» about violations by certain Chinese companies.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who also joined those talks, said that «more effort is needed to curtail delivery of dual-use goods to Russia that find their way to the battlefield.»
«Providing Russia with dual-use components rather than finished weapons has allowed China to provide support for Russia while claiming plausible deniability,» wrote Nathaniel Sher, a senior research analyst at Carnegie China.
«Even if Beijing curtails dual-use exports in order to avoid further sanctions, its strategic interest in Russia remaining a stable partner will persist.»
Citing customs data, Sher said that every month, China is exporting over $300 million worth of
