WSJ: US contemplates intel release on China’s potential arms transfer to Russia
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The Biden administration is considering releasing intelligence it believes shows that China is examing possibilities on whether to supply weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reports citing U.S. officials.
The discussions on public disclosure come ahead of Feb. 24 United Nations Security Council meeting marking one year since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It follows several closed-door appeals to China — coordinated among North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies — that culminated in a formal warning delivered over the weekend in Munich to Wang Yi, China’s senior foreign-policy official, by a number of western officials.
“Until now,” a senior western official said, there “has been a certain amount of ambiguity about what practical help China might give Russia.” The official said that the intelligence the U.S. and its allies have now is “much less ambiguous,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
"That China might provide lethal weapons to Russia — based on new intelligence — is a marked departure from the more general dual-use goods that Chinese companies have been providing over the past year," according to U.S. and European officials. The officials declined to provide details.
