China views its “no-limits” partnership with Russia as integral to advancing the PRC’s development and emergence as a great power. Nevertheless, Beijing has attempted a discreet approach to providing material support to Moscow for its war against Ukraine.
The US Defence Department on Thursday called out China for “providing material support” for Russia’s war, intensifying military pressure against Taiwan and ignoring repeated requests for bilateral dialogue as the country modernises in preparation to fight a “strong enemy”, which the Pentagon assumes is the US.
The People’s Liberation Army’s “evolving capabilities and concepts continue to strengthen China’s ability to “fight and win wars” against a “strong enemy ” – a likely euphemism for the United States – counter an intervention by a third party in a conflict along the PRC’s periphery, and project power globally, the Pentagon said.
The annual report, titled “Military and security developments involving the People’s Republic of China”, follows multiple warnings about the growth of the country’s nuclear force and a rise in “coercive and risky operational behaviour” against US military assets in international airspace over the East and South China seas.
