Chinese technology helped the Russians build fortifications in the occupied territories
[ad_1]
Chinese exports to Russia have increased sharply since last year, especially in terms of excavators and other equipment used by the occupiers to dig trenches and fortify the occupied territories of Ukraine.
He writes about it The Wall Street Journal with reference to trade data.
The total volume of trade between China and Russia in the first seven months of 2023 increased by 36% compared to the same period last year, to 134 billion dollars. Beijing supplies Russia with a range of goods, including those with potential military applications, such as microchips and excavators for digging trenches.
During this period, Chinese exports to Russia increased by 73%, even as China’s total exports fell by 5%. The Bank of Finland estimates that China is now the source of 45% to 50% of Russian imports, up from 25% before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Western sanctions have limited Russia’s access to many Western-made goods, so Chinese companies have filled this gap with their own products – cars, electronics, food, tobacco, metals, smartphones and other consumer goods. China will also benefit from this, especially when the country’s economy is facing a number of challenges, including a decrease in demand from Western countries.
Chinese companies supplied Russia with computer chips, parts for jet fighters, as well as navigation and jamming technologies. A report released last month by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence also said China was helping Russia evade sanctions and buy military technology.
It is noteworthy that exactly one year ago, Russian imports of Chinese earthmoving equipment began to grow sharply. In the first seven months of the year, China sold almost twice as many wheel loaders and more than three times as many excavators to Russia than in the same period a year earlier.
According to Joseph Webster, a senior researcher at the Atlantic Council, this indicates that Russia is using some of them to build fortifications in the war against Ukraine.
“Chinese companies enabled the construction of Russian fortifications in Ukraine,” he said. “It’s not a coincidence, it was then (a year ago – EP) that the Russian troops really started to dig in, when they started to retreat.”
In June, the governor of the Sakhalin region of Russia, Valery Limarenko, handed over new Chinese-made excavators to the occupying forces in eastern Ukraine, according to a video posted on his Telegram channel.
In addition, China’s car exports to Russia have also increased sharply after shipments from Europe almost stopped early last year. In the first six months of this year, China exported more than 341,000 cars to Russia, which is almost six times more than in the first half of 2022.
We remind you:
Since the start of the Great War, China has made thousands of deliveries to Russian companies, including sanctioned companies that make missile launchers, armored vehicles and strategic bombers.
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
