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US-China tensions


U.S., CHINA TOP OFFICIALS TO MEET AS TENSIONS MOUNT OVER RUSSIA

Washington will not allow Beijing to aid Moscow evade sanctions, Sullivan warns


U.S. National security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at
the White House in Washington, U.S., Jan.13.   © Reuters
March 14, 2022 00:51 JSTUpdated on March 14, 2022 09:15 JST | U.S.
CopyCopied

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. and China are sending top aides to meet in Rome on
Monday amid mounting tensions between the two countries over the Russia-Ukraine
war and as a U.S. official reports that Russia in recent days has asked China
for military equipment to help press its campaign.

In advance of the talks, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan
bluntly warned China to avoid helping Russia evade punishment from global
sanctions that have hammered the Russian economy. "We will not allow that to go
forward," he said.

U.S. officials are also accusing China of spreading Russian disinformation that
could be a pretext for chemical or biological weapons attacks launched by
Vladimir Putin's forces in Ukraine.



Russia's invasion of Ukraine has put China in a delicate spot with two of its
biggest trading partners: the U.S. and European Union. China needs access to
those markets, yet it also has made gestures supportive of Moscow, joining with
Russia in declaring a friendship with "no limits."

In his talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi, Sullivan
will indeed be looking for limits in what Beijing will do for Moscow.

"I'm not going to sit here publicly and brandish threats," he told CNN in a
round of Sunday news show interviews. "But what I will tell you is we are
communicating directly and privately to Beijing that there absolutely will be
consequences" if China helps Russia "backfill" its losses from the sanctions.

"We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia
from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world," he said.



A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive
matters, said that in recent days, Russia had requested support from China,
including military equipment, to press forward in its ongoing war with Ukraine.
The official did not provide details on the scope of the request. The request
was first reported by the Financial Times and The Washington Post.

The White House said the talks will focus on the direct impact of Russia's war
against Ukraine on regional and global security.

Biden administration officials say Beijing is spreading false Russian claims
that Ukraine was running chemical and biological weapons labs with U.S. support.
They say China is effectively providing cover if Russia moves ahead with a
biological or chemical weapons attack on Ukrainians.

When Russia starts accusing other countries of preparing to launch biological or
chemical attacks, Sullivan told NBC's "Meet the Press," "it's a good tell that
they may be on the cusp of doing it themselves."

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, on ABC's "This Week," said "we haven't seen
anything that indicates some sort of imminent chemical or biological attack
right now, but we're watching this very, very closely."

The striking U.S. accusations about Russian disinformation and Chinese
complicity came after Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
alleged with no evidence that the U.S. was financing Ukrainian chemical and
biological weapons labs.

The Russian claim was echoed by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian,
who claimed there were 26 bio-labs and related facilities in "which the U.S.
Department of Defense has absolute control." The United Nations has said it has
received no information backing up such accusations.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the claims "preposterous."

"Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed
this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use
chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation
using them," Psaki tweeted last week. "It's a clear pattern."

There is growing concern inside the White House that China is aligning itself
with Russia on the Ukraine war in hopes it will advance Beijing's "vision of the
world order" in the long term, according to a person familiar with
administration thinking. The person was not authorized to comment publicly and
spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Sullivan told "Face the Nation" on CBS that the Russian rhetoric on chemical and
biological warfare is "an indicator that, in fact, the Russians are getting
ready to do it and try and pin the blame elsewhere and nobody should fall for
that."

The international community for years has assessed that Russia has used chemical
weapons in carrying out assassination attempts against Putin detractors such as
Alexei Navalny and former spy Sergei Skripal. Russia also supports the Assad
government in Syria, which has used chemical weapons against its people in a
decade-long civil war.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, CIA Director
William Burns also noted grave concern that Russia might be laying the
groundwork for a chemical or biological attack of its own, which it would then
blame on the U.S. or Ukraine in a false flag operation.

"This is something, as all of you know very well, is very much a part of
Russia's playbook," he said. "They've used these weapons against their own
citizens, they've at least encouraged the use in Syria and elsewhere, so it's
something we take very seriously."

China has been one of few countries to avoid criticizing the Russians for its
invasion of Ukraine. China's Xi Jinping hosted Putin for the opening of the
Winter Olympics in Beijing, just weeks before Russia launched the Feb. 24
invasion.

During Putin's visit to China last month, the two leaders issued a 5,000-word
statement declaring limitless friendship.

The Chinese abstained on U.N. votes censuring Russia and has criticized economic
sanctions against Moscow. It has expressed its support for peace talks and
offered its services as a mediator, despite questions about its neutrality and
scant experience mediating international conflict.

But questions remain over how far Beijing will go to alienate the alliance and
put its own economy at risk. Sullivan said China and all countries are on notice
that they cannot "basically bail Russia out ... give Russia a workaround to the
sanctions," with impunity.

Chinese officials have said Washington shouldn't be able to complain about
Russia's actions because the U.S. invaded Iraq under false pretenses. The U.S.
claimed to have evidence Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass
destruction though none was ever found.

On CNN, Sullivan said the administration believes China knew that Putin "was
planning something" before the invasion of Ukraine. But he said the Chinese
government "may not have understood the full extent of it because it's very
possible that Putin lied to them the same way that he lied to Europeans and
others."

Sullivan and Yang last met for face-to-face talks in Switzerland, where Sullivan
raised the Biden administration's concerns about China's military provocations
against Taiwan, human rights abuses against ethnic minorities and efforts to
squelch pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong.

That meeting set the stage for a three-hour long virtual meeting in November
between Biden and Xi.

Sullivan is also to meet Luigi Mattiolo, diplomatic adviser to Italian Prime
Minister Mario Draghi, while in Rome.





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