The Biden administration’s decision to declassify and publicize intelligence indicating Beijing is contemplating providing lethal aid to Russia for the war in Ukraine could ultimately prevent them from doing so, according to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) called the decision to share this intelligence “incredibly important” during a Washington Post Live event on Tuesday. He noted that there’s a chance this could deter China from actually going through with the aid. U.S. officials have repeatedly said the intelligence indicated that China is considering this help for Russia but has not made a final decision.
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“I think the administration has done a bit of one thing that’s incredibly important, and that is that they released the intelligence that it was their conclusion that China was considering giving weapons to Russia,” he explained. “That’s allowing us right now to have this conversation. It’s allowing embassies across the world to have this conversation and Europe to react. If Chinese weapons show up on the battlefield of Ukraine, it will be obvious we will see them — we’ll pick them up. It’ll be easy to identify that there.”
If it happens, “this would be a considerable step of aggression on the part of China,” Turner added. “The administration has allowed that conversation to happen by releasing the intelligence so that we could have a conversation, and I think that impacts the outcome.”
The Biden administration first divulged the declassified intelligence in mid-February, the latest attempt in their policy of releasing intelligence proactively in an attempt to preempt adversaries from committing such actions. The administration began doing this in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby reiterated on Tuesday that “We don’t believe that the Chinese have taken that option off their table of lethal assistance. We also haven’t seen any indications that they’ve acted on it.”
U.S. officials, in recent weeks, have warned of abstract consequences should China provide lethal aid to Russia but have declined to provide specifics about what that could look like in practice.
Also on Tuesday, Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister, said that the U.S. needs to change its course or “conflict and confrontation” will occur.
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“If the United States does not hit the brakes but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there will surely be conflict and confrontation,” he said. “Who will bear the consequences? Such competition is a reckless gamble.”
Chinese leader Xi Jinping also rebuked the U.S. this week, blaming America for struggles in his country, saying, “Western countries — led by the U.S. — have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression against us, bringing unprecedentedly severe challenges to our country’s development.”
