By Andrew Thornebrooke
April 29, 2022 Updated: April 29, 2022
The
House passed legislation on April 27 that would require the State Department to
submit ongoing reports to Congress documenting China’s support of the
ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
H.R. 7314,
referred to as the “Assessing Xi’s Interference and Subversion Act” or, more
simply, the “AXIS Act,” will now go to the Senate for consideration.
The
text of the legislation states that China’s communist regime has engaged in a
pro-Russia propaganda
campaign that “make it culpable in whitewashing Russia’s war crimes, which include
the indiscriminate killing of countless Ukrainian men, women, and children.”
Russia
is currently being investigated for
war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), meanwhile, has
been accused by
American leadership of tacitly supporting the alleged crimes, and called out by
international leadership for its refusal to condemn Russia.
Rep.
Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who sponsored the bill, said that the legislation was
necessary to inform the public and Congress of the full extent of the
Sino-Russian relationship.
“The
alliance between the Chinese Communist Party and the Russian Kremlin is the new
Axis of evil that threatens the United States and the rules-based international
order,” Barr said in
a statement. “We need a full report on the extent of the collaboration between
Russia and China to inform the public and enable lawmakers to begin positioning
the U.S. to overcome this geopolitical challenge.”
The
United States has accused the
CCP of tacitly enabling Russia’s war in Ukraine. Documents leaked to the press
from within the U.S. government suggested that
the CCP knew about the invasion ahead of time and that Chinese officials
requested Russia postpone the war until the end of the Beijing Olympics. Other
reports suggested that
China was mulling a Russian plea for financial and military assistance with its
war effort.
A
report from within Ukraine, potentially created with the help of an unknown
partner nation, said that Chinese state-backed hackers conducted a
large cyber attack on critical civilian and military infrastructure in Ukraine
the day before the war started.
CCP
leader Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a
“no limits” partnership on Feb. 4, and have repeatedly reaffirmed their
commitment to one another in the face of international condemnation and
outrage. The CCP also refused to engage in international efforts to condemn
Russia’s aggression and stated that
multilateral financial sanctions against Putin and Russia were illegitimate.
The
deepening partnership between the CCP and the Kremlin has alarmed Western
strategists, with one defense expert claiming that
China would continue to support Russia even if it deployed a tactical nuclear
weapon in Ukraine.
As
such, many in Washington consider the Chinese communist regime to be a willing
partner in Russia’s war.
“The
Chinese Communist Party has proven it is not willing or capable of acting as a
constructive partner in Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine,” Rep. Michael
McCaul (R-Texas) said in an April 28 statement. “Rather, they are complicit.”
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