Russia is now a Chinese ‘colony’ for cheap resources
Moscow is deeply dependent on Beijing as the illegal war with Ukraine drags on into a fifth year
Russia has become nothing more than a Chinese “colony” and a source of cheap raw materials. As its illegal invasion of Ukraine drags on into a fifth year, Moscow is now deeply dependent on Beijing for everything from cars to chips.
In return, President Xi Jinping has forced his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin into a “no limits” partnership, involving “the systematic exploitation of Russian resources” for China’s industry. The Kremlin has little choice but to accept this new reality.
It is the only way that Putin can get his hands on critical Chinese machinery, vehicles, and dual-use electronics for Russia’s killing machine. Western sanctions shut off advanced technology and vital manufactured goods after Moscow launched the war in 2022.
China has filled the gap, prolonging the suffering in Ukraine and saving Putin from a crushing defeat. Companies “in Hong Kong and mainland China” are even supplying Russia “with European electronics and military technology,” exploiting loopholes in sanctions.
“European components remain deeply embedded in Russia’s weapons systems and military infrastructure, often routed through the same small group of repeat intermediaries,” a report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation revealed.
“Hong Kong functions not merely as a permissive business environment but a systemic hub for the routing of sanctioned goods and payments to Russia,” researchers at the advocacy group stated last week.
China knows that Europe likely won’t sanction it fully.
Eva Seiwert, MERICS
Tough talk:
- Still, Europe has taken a more robust line against China, targeting key sectors such as banking and energy.
- But that has not shifted Beijing’s stance. In fact, it appears to have strengthened what has been called the axis of autocracy.
Delve deeper: “China doesn’t expect any major consequences because there haven’t really been any yet,” Eva Seiwert, a senior analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, or MERICS, said, as reported by Radio Free Europe earlier this week.
Between the lines: “China knows that Europe likely won’t sanction it fully and aims to keep its support below a threshold that won’t trigger a larger response,” she added.
Big picture: In a commentary for The Conversation, Linggong Kong, of Auburn University in the United States, concluded that Beijing had “enhanced Moscow’s offensive and defensive capabilities, boosting China’s military-industrial production.”
China Factor comment: Last year, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, that China did not want to see a Russian defeat in Ukraine. It is time that Europe realizes that Beijing is not an innocent bystander but a combative state.