US officials said that China provided more than 70% of the $900m (£723m) in machine tools – probably used to build ballistic missiles – imported in the last quarter of 2023 by Russia.
They also said that 90% of Russia’s microelectronics imports – used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft – came from China last year.
Chinese companies do business with whoever pays them. Ukraine, for example, is heavily reliant on Chinese drones and has been buying over half the global supply of DJI’s Mavic quadcopters.
And Chinese companies aren’t alone in this. Lots of developing economies don’t feel they gave a stake in the conflict and have continued to do business. Most of Russia’s oil exports have been going through India. The fact that the US has been so muted in its response to this, because they feel like India is “on-side” in the confrontation against China, makes the singling out of China seem hypocritical.