As mentioned Tuesday, there is mounting evidence that China has shipped rifles and drone parts to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine started, and perhaps ammunition as well. (Chinese-made ammunition has been found in Ukraine, and it is believed to have been fired by Russian forces, but it is unclear whether the Russian military obtained that Chinese ammunition before or after the invasion started.) This is particularly troubling because the Biden administration loudly and publicly announced in February that any arms shipments to Russia would constitute crossing a “red line,” with some sort of severe but unspecified consequence.
The word from the White House Wednesday was that the administration still hasn’t seen any evidence that China is shipping weapons to Russia.
Q And now that the meeting is behind us, is there any change in the U.S. assessment on China’s weighing of sending weaponry to Moscow?
MR. KIRBY: No change. No change.
Enforcing the “red line” will involve risk, the risk of worsening already tense relations with China and taking actions that Putin and his regime will interpret as escalatory. There are considerable signs that Putin wants the world, and his people, to believe his country is at war with NATO. Russia’s defense ministry released video footage on Wednesday showing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presenting medals to two Russian air force pilots who intercepted a U.S. drone near the airspace around Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
But if you don’t see any crossing of a red line, you don’t have to enforce any consequences for crossing a red line.