China Profits From Prolonged Russia War vs Ukraine

The US has enough on its hands with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The last thing it needs is China giving a boost to President Vladimir Putin's war effort, which top American officials fear could be imminent, CNN stressed in an analysis.

Photo Insert: US officials are issuing increasingly urgent warnings that Beijing should not consider supplying Russia with arms after Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived for talks in Moscow on Tuesday.

Before the invasion, Russia and China agreed to a friendship with "no limits," playing into long-term US fears of a united front between Moscow and Beijing.

Now senior US officials are issuing increasingly urgent warnings that Beijing should not consider supplying Russia with arms, after Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived for talks in Moscow on Tuesday.

China's foreign ministry meanwhile has bristled that Washington -- after sending a stream of high-tech weaponry into Ukraine and pushing Western allies to follow suit -- is in no position to lecture Beijing on the issue.

China's leadership has claimed impartiality in the Ukraine conflict but refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, instead expanding trade ties and continuing joint military exercises.

At the Munich Security Conference this weekend, Wang built on China’s framing of itself as a proponent of peace and negotiation, saying that Beijing would release its position on a “political settlement” of the crisis and that it was not "adding fuel to the fire."

Still, Beijing could have an interest in the war dragging on, especially if it believes that Ukraine could distract the US from its effort to challenge rising Chinese dominance in Asia and might drain weapons and ammunition that Washington might otherwise make available to Taiwan.

Years more war could also open divides between the US and Europe, playing into China's foreign policy goals. And it could whip up political dissent in Washington, weakening Biden's capacity to fulfill his own foreign policy goals on the global stage.

So, while Beijing's envoy may say he's ready to work on a peace plan, China is likely in no hurry to end the war that preoccupies its biggest rival.

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