BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States is urging its European partners to be more forceful in expressing their disquiet about China’s growing defence collaboration with Russia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday.
Campbell, who has met Belgian, NATO and EU officials from Monday, said he had provided allies with details of China’s “substantial support” to Russia’s military industrial base and the consequences on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Much of the support, he said, was provided covertly.
“We’ve asked our European colleagues… to do more and to align with us on our public statements of concern and careful indications of being prepared to take steps to signal displeasure,” Campbell said.
Campbell said that simply watching more carefully certain financial institutions and making this clear could have “significant consequences” as China and Russia were attentive to the financial system and worried about potential steps against them.
Campbell said Russia was engaging more with China in research and support in areas such as submarines, aeronautical design, including stealth technology, and missile capabilities.
Chinese advances in submarines, for example, could undermine the United States’ current undersea advantages.
Russian help to perfect certain military capabilities for China would have “an important, negative and concerning impact” on other nations in the Indo-Pacific region.
Campbell said the United States, the EU and NATO partners were increasingly aligned on China policy.
“There are some countries, a few that probably lag and take different perspectives. But I would say that the larger gravity of both the EU and NATO are moving towards growing anxiety about various steps that China is taking,” he said.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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