The U.S. wants China to stop helping Russia develop its industrial capabilities, with the argument that those industries could also contribute to Russia’s war effort against Ukraine. According to an article in the Financial Times, U.S. authorities admit that “China had not provided equipment that was technically deemed as lethal. But they said it was providing goods and technology that were helping Russia to rebuild its defense industrial base and was enabling Moscow to reduce the impact of US and western sanctions and export controls. `These materials are filling critical gaps in Russia’s defense production cycle. As a result, Russia is undertaking its most ambitious defense expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict,’ said one official, adding that China’s support was `key to the revitalization of Russia’s defense industrial base, which had otherwise suffered significant setbacks due to our sanctions and export controls’.”
The crime, in other words, is development per se. Russia is guilty; and China is guilty of helping Russia develop.
