Congress urges White House to disclose whether Russia is sharing insight on US weapons with China
A bipartisan congressional committee urged the White House on July 15 to reveal whether Russia is sharing insights on U.S. weapons used on the front lines in Ukraine with China, Reuters reported.
Lawmakers on the House of Representative's select committee on China delivered a letter to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan questioning whether Moscow had shared any "lessons-learned" with Beijing, insisting that any information Russia has gained on the battlefield in Ukraine would be "likely to proliferate" to China, according to the letter seen by Reuters.
Although China officially maintains a neutral stance on Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine and denies providing lethal aid, Beijing and Moscow continue to strengthen their ties.
Various countries, including the United States, have accused China of continuously aiding Russia's war machine in Ukraine by providing machine tools, weapons technology, satellite imagery, semiconductors, and other dual-use technologies.
"We should anticipate and indeed operate under the assumption that Russia is passing information about vulnerabilities or counters to American and allied weapons systems to (China)," House Republican committee chair John Moolenaar and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote.
Earlier this month, unnamed European officials alleged that Chinese companies are developing attack drones similar to the Iranian-produced Shahed-type drone to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.
On July 14, China's Defense Ministry announced that the country had began joint naval drills with Russia at a military point in Zhanjiang.
The drills began days after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on July 11 that alliance members agree that China is a "decisive enabler" of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine - a notion that Beijing immediately rejected.
The White House National Security Council has not yet responded to Reuters' request for comment on the letter.
In April, the U.S. finalized a $61 billion in aid to Ukraine - of which eight package have thus far been approved by President Joe Biden.
Daria Shulzhenko
