The US has warned that Russia is helping China develop submarine, aeronautic and missile technologies in exchange for Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Russia’s deepening sharing of military knowhow in areas such as stealth and surveillance would have a “negative and concerning impact” on the security of the US and its allies, Kurt Campbell, US deputy secretary of state, said on Tuesday.
“These new areas of collaboration between Russia and China are in the areas of design and . . . application. They are significant,” Campbell told reporters during a visit to Brussels to meet EU, Nato and Belgian officials.
The collaboration could have a “very significant impact on Chinese capabilities and deployments in the western Pacific”, he added.
Russia has historically been cautious about co-operating with China on military technology out of concern about giving too much assistance to the development of the large and highly capable forces in its neighbouring country and a desire to protect its intellectual property.
But Campbell said Russian support, provided in exchange for Chinese supplies of items such as parts used to build Russian weapons, was “orchestrated at the highest levels” in Moscow and Beijing.
The co-operation was “not a tactical alliance, this is a fundamental alignment”, he said.
The Chinese embassy to the EU in Brussels did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Campbell’s comments. Beijing has previously denounced accusations it is supporting Russia’s war effort as “biased, slanderous, and provocative”, insisting it has taken a “constructive role” on the war in Ukraine and has not provided lethal weapons to either side.
Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, said Moscow had become more willing to collaborate with Beijing on military technology after its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the process had accelerated since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Russia realised that China is pumping tens of billions of dollars into defence research and production, annually,” Gabuev said.
“Russia realised that . . . in certain limited areas, where Russia still has superiority, it has a window of opportunity right now to grow into the Chinese market, earn money, and in the best-case scenario, create a joint value chain.”
Several Russian scientists working in areas related to weapons development have been given long prison sentences in the past decade for allegedly passing state secrets to China.
Last week, Alexander Shiplyuk, a physicist from a renowned Siberian institute working on scientific research related to the development of Russian hypersonic missiles, received a 15-year sentence for treason. Reuters reported that his arrest followed a trip to a conference in China.
However, western sanctions have made Moscow increasingly dependent on China for access to dual-use goods needed to produce weapons for deployment in Ukraine and to refurbish its military-industrial production facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself confirmed in 2019 that Moscow was helping Beijing develop a missile-defence early-warning system.
China’s new Type 096 nuclear ballistic missile submarine was also developed with support from Russian technology for making its propulsion system more silent, according to US naval researchers.
Until relatively recently, Russia had resisted sharing advanced submarine technology with China. In 2021, the Rubin Central Design Bureau, one of Russia’s key submarine research centres, was hacked in an intrusion that cyber security experts attributed to Chinese actors.
China and Russia have also been deepening military co-operation by holding large joint naval and air exercises.
On Tuesday, Russia announced the start of a week-long naval exercise involving over 400 vessels and submarines in the Pacific and Arctic oceans and the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic seas. Four Chinese warships would join the exercise in the Sea of Japan, it said.
Announcing the start of the drills, Putin accused the US of “trying to maintain its global military and political dominance at any cost”.
“Under the pretext of countering the alleged Russian threat and containing the People’s Republic of China, the US and its satellites are increasing their military presence near Russia’s western borders, in the Arctic and in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.