Customs data obtained by POLITICO
reveals direct shipments of Chinese assault rifles, as well as drone shipments
and body armor routed via Turkey and the UAE.
BY ERIN BANCO AND SARAH ANNE AARUP
MARCH
16, 2023
Beijing continues to deny that it is ramping up support for Russia in Ukraine | Kim Kyung-Hoon/AFP via Getty Images
Chinese companies, including
one connected to the government in Beijing, have sent Russian entities 1,000
assault rifles and other equipment that could be used for military purposes,
including drone parts and body armor, according to trade and customs data
obtained by POLITICO.
The shipments took place
between June and December 2022, according to the data provided by ImportGenius,
a customs data aggregator.
China North Industries Group
Corporation Limited, one of the country’s largest state-owned defense
contractors, sent the rifles in June 2022 to a Russian
company called Tekhkrim that also does business with the Russian state
and military. The CQ-A rifles, modeled off of the
M16 but tagged as “civilian hunting rifles” in the data, have been
reported to be in use by paramilitary police in China and by
armed forces from the Philippines to South Sudan and Paraguay.
Russian entities also
received 12 shipments of drone parts by Chinese companies and over 12 tons of
Chinese body armor, routed via Turkey, in late 2022, according to the data.
Although the customs data
does not show that Beijing is selling a large amount of weapons to Moscow
specifically to aid its war effort, it reveals that China is supplying Russian
companies with previously unreported “dual-use” equipment — commercial items
that could also be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.
It is the first confirmation
that China is sending rifles and body armor to Russian companies, and shows
that drones and drone parts are still being sent despite promises from at least
one company that said it would suspend business in Russia and Ukraine to ensure
its products did not aid the war effort.
The confirmation of these
shipments comes as leaders in the U.S. and Europe warn Beijing against
supporting Russia’s efforts in Ukraine. Western officials have said in recent
weeks that China is considering sending weapons to
Russia’s military, a move that could alter the nature of the fighting on
the ground in Ukraine, tipping it in Russia’s favor. Officials are also concerned
that some of the dual-use material could also be used by Russia to equip
reinforcements being deployed to Ukraine at a time when Moscow is in desperate
need of supplies.
Da-Jiang Innovations Science
& Technology Co., also known as DJI, sent drone parts — like batteries and
cameras — via the United Arab Emirates to a small Russian distributor in
November and December 2022. DJI is a Chinese company that has been under
U.S. Treasury sanctions since 2021 for providing the Chinese state
with drones to surveil the Uyghur minority in the western region of Xinjiang.
In addition to drones, Russia
has for months relied on other countries, including China, for navigation
equipment, satellite imagery, vehicle components and other raw materials to
help prop up President Vladimir Putin’s year-old war on Ukraine.
It’s currently unclear if
Russia is using any of the rifles included in the shipment data on the
battlefield — Tekhkrim, the Russian company, did not respond to an emailed
request for comment. But the DJI drones have been spotted on the
battlefield for months. DJI did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The National Security Council
did not comment on the record for this story. The Chinese embassy in Washington
said in a statement that Beijing is “committed to promoting talks for peace” in
Ukraine.
“China did not create the
crisis. It is not a party to the crisis, and has not provided weapons to either
side of the conflict,” said embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu.
Asked about the findings in
the data obtained by POLITICO, Poland’s Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sadoś said
that “due to the potential very serious consequences, such information should
be verified immediately.”
Although Western sanctions have hampered Moscow’s ability to
import everything from microchips to tear gas, Russia’s still able to buy
supplies that support its war effort from “friendly” countries that aren’t
following the West’s new rules, like China or the Gulf countries.
“Some commercial products,
like drones or even microchips, could be adapted. They can transform from a
simple benign civilian product to a lethal and military product,” said Sam
Bendett, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center of Naval Analyses Russia
Studies in Washington, noting that dual-use items could help Russia advance on
the battlefield.
Experts say it is difficult
to track whether dual-use items shipped from China are being sold to buyers who
intend to use the technology for civilian purposes or for military means.
“The challenge with dual-use
items is that the export control system we have has to consider both the
commercial sales possibilities as well as the military use of certain items,”
said Zach Cooper, former assistant to the deputy national security adviser for
combating terrorism at the National Security Council.
In cases where the Kremlin
craves specific technology only produced in say the U.S., EU or Japan, there
are wily ways for Moscow to evade
sanctions, which include buying equipment from middlemen located in countries
with cordial trade relations with both the West and Russia.
Russia managed to import
almost 80 tons of body armor worth around $10 million in December last year,
according to the customs data from ImportGenius. Those bulletproof vests were
manufactured by Turkish company Ariteks and most were imported straight from
Turkey, although some of the shipments arrived to Russia via the United Arab
Emirates. Russia also imported some body armor from Chinese company Xinxing Guangzhou Import & Export Co.
Trade data also shows that
Russian state defense company Rosoboronexport has imported microchips, thermal
vision devices and spare parts like a gas turbine engine from a variety of
countries ranging from China to Serbia and Myanmar since 2022.
Dual-use items could also be
a way for China to quietly increase its assistance to Moscow while avoiding
reprisals officials in Washington and Europe have been threatening in recent
weeks if China goes ahead with sending weapons to the Russian military.
Most recently, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters last
week that there would be “consequences” if China sent weapons to Russia,
although he also said that he’s seen “no evidence” that Beijing is considering
delivering arms to Moscow.
“We are now in a stage where
we are making clear that this should not happen, and I’m relatively optimistic
that we will be successful with our request in this case,” he said.
Among the military items
China has been considering shipping to Russia are drones, ammunition and other
small arms, according to a list that has circulated inside the administration
and on Capitol Hill for months, according to a person who read that document.
And intelligence briefed to officials in Washington, on Capitol Hill and to
U.S. allies across the world in the last month, suggests Beijing could take the
step to ship weapons to Russia.
"We do see [China]
providing assistance to Russia in the context of the conflict. And we see them
in a situation in which they've become increasingly uncomfortable about the
level of assistance and not looking to do it as publicly as might otherwise
occur and given the reputational costs associated with it,” Avril Haines, the
U.S. director of national intelligence, said in a congressional hearing March
8. “That is a very real concern and the degree of how close they get and how
much assistance they're providing is something we watch very carefully."
As data about dual-use item
shipments to Russia becomes available, Western countries are expected to ramp
up efforts to quell these flows.
“We've already started to see
sanctions against people [moving] military material to Russia. I'm sure we're
going to be seeing the EU and other countries target those people that are
helping a lot of this material to get to Russia,” said James Byrne from the
Royal United Services Institute, a U.K.-based defense think tank.
Beijing continues to deny
that it is ramping up support for Russia in Ukraine. However, several of its
top officials have recently traveled to Moscow. President Xi Jinping is
expected to make an appearance there in the coming weeks. China recently
presented a 12-point peace proposalfor the war in Ukraine,
though it was criticized by western leaders for its ambiguity and for its lack
of details about the need for the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Leonie
Kijewski contributed reporting from Brussels.
CORRECTION:
A previous version of this story misstated the amount of body armor the data
shows Russia imported in December. It was nearly 80 tons.
https://www.politico.eu/article/chinese-companies-are-shipping-rifles-body-armor-to-russia/
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