Joe Biden said Friday from Ottawa that China “has not delivered” weapons to Russia at this stage, despite fears expressed about it by Westerners. “It’s been three months now that I hear that China is going to supply important weapons to Russia… That doesn’t mean they won’t, but they haven’t yet,” said said the American president during a trip to his Canadian neighbor.
“I don’t take China lightly. I don’t take Russia lightly,” he added, adding that the reports of their rapprochement had probably been “exaggerated”. Conversely, Joe Biden insisted on the strengthened ties between Westerners. “If anything has happened, it’s that the West has tightened up considerably,” he said of a “united” coalition.
During a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow this week, Russians and Chinese for their part welcomed the entry into a “new era” of their “special relationship”. But while the Chinese leader promised moral support and a commercial lifeline, he refrained from supplying arms to Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine, which could have led to Western sanctions against his country. Nor has there been a long-term commitment to buying large quantities of Russian gas, whose exports to Europe have collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in Russia’s finances.
