President Biden was anxious to get off the stage at Thursday night’s G7 summit, visibly a little testy after answering questions about Hunter Biden’s conviction and the prospects for a ceasefire in Gaza.
But at the end of a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which the Ukrainian leader subtly addressed tensions between China and Russia, he seemed unable to resist interjecting. As soon as Zelensky finished speaking, he leaned toward the microphone.
“China, by the way, is not providing weapons for the war in Ukraine, but it is providing the capability to produce those weapons and the technology to produce those weapons,” Biden said.
“So, this is actually helping Russia,” he said.
During the G7 summit in Puglia, China has been a lurking presence: in the words of the final communiqué of the summit, China is the savior of “Russian war machine”; the threat of the South China Sea is growing; as a willful economic behavior They are dumping electric cars into Western markets and threatening to withhold key minerals needed by high-tech industries.
There were a total of 28 references to China in the final communiqué, almost all of which described Beijing as an evil force.
This is in sharp contrast to the image of China a few years ago.
At past summits, the West’s largest economies have often talked about working with Beijing to combat climate change, counterterrorism and nuclear proliferation. While China has never been invited to join the G7 like Russia – Moscow joined the group in 1997 and was suspended after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 – Beijing is often described as a “partner”, supplier , and most importantly, a fantastic clientele selling everything from German cars to French fashion.
no longer. This year, China and Russia have been frequently compared and used in the same threatening terms, perhaps as a natural consequence of their deepening partnership.
A senior Biden administration official who observed the summit leaders’ talks and later briefed reporters on discussions about China’s role appeared to view the relationship as increasingly confrontational.
The official, who declined to be identified describing the closed-door talks, told reporters that “over time it became clear that President Xi’s goal was Chinese dominance” ranging from trade to security issues affecting around the world.
But China’s support for Russia became a new element at this year’s summit, and may have changed Europe’s views. The subject of China’s role has barely been raised at the past two summits, and when it has been, it has tended to be about China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, as president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin The influence of moderating forces, especially when there are concerns that China’s role is threatened.
This time, the tone was very different, starting with the communiqué itself.
“We will continue to take measures against Chinese and third-country actors who provide material support to the Russian war machine, including financial institutions that comply with our legal system and facilitate Russia’s procurement of items for military use,” the leaders’ statement read. of other Chinese entities.
The United States insisted on including the language and urged its allies to cooperate with Biden’s actions earlier this week, when the Treasury Department issued a series of new sanctions aimed at disrupting growing technological ties between Russia and China. But so far, few other G7 countries have taken similar measures.
There is growing confidence within the Biden administration that Xi Jinping’s views on China’s role in the Ukraine war have changed over the past year and will increasingly support Putin and declare a “partnership” with him .
Even just a few months ago, most administration officials thought that claim was exaggerated, and even Biden expressed doubts in public comments that the two countries could overcome their enormous suspicion of each other to cooperate.
That view has now changed, with some government officials saying they believe Beijing is also working to prevent countries from attending peace conferences organized by Zelensky. More than 90 countries will attend this weekend’s conference in Switzerland, but Russia will not attend and China, which a year ago expressed interest in various ceasefire and peace plans, has also said it will not attend.
Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center in Berlin, believes that China now opposes any peace efforts in which it cannot play a central role.
“Xi Jinping appears unlikely to give up on his troubled Russian partner or even pay lip service to aid Kiev,” Gabuev wrote in Foreign Affairs on Friday. “Instead, China has chosen a more ambitious, But it is also a riskier approach. It will continue to help Moscow and undermine Western-led peace proposals and then use its influence with Russia to bring both sides to the negotiating table to try to reach a lasting agreement.
U.S. officials attending the summit said they largely agreed with Gabuev’s diagnosis but expressed doubts that China had the diplomatic experience to make it work.
But the changing perception of China goes well beyond the issues surrounding Ukraine’s outcome. European countries that had worried about the United States being overly confrontational with China a few years ago signed a communiqué this year calling for the establishment of stronger Western supply chains and less reliance on Chinese companies.
The joint communiqué also hinted that China had carried out a series of major hacking attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States and Europe, urged China to “abide by its commitment to act responsibly in cyberspace” and promised to “continue efforts to disrupt and prevent ongoing, malicious behavior”. Cyber activity from China threatens the security and privacy of our citizens, undermines innovation and puts our critical infrastructure at risk. “
The reference to this infrastructure appears to be related to the Chinese program that the United States calls Volta Typhoon. U.S. intelligence officials describe it as a sophisticated effort by China to plant Chinese-made malware in water systems, power grids and port operations in the United States and its allies.
In congressional testimony and interviews, Biden administration officials charged that the malware’s real purpose was to gain the ability to shut down vital U.S. services during the Taiwan crisis, slow down the U.S. military response and sow confusion among Americans. , they were more concerned about restoring the water supply.
