How important is China for Russia's war in Ukraine? | The Economist

How important. is China's help. for Russia's war machine? The nature of that support. is varied. It's sending in drone parts, sending in the sort of goods. that are now under sanctions, so you can't. easily access them directly. if you're Russia. from European suppliers. or American suppliers. You could, of course, get them from the Chinese. In return. the Chinese. are getting an enormous. insight into. how the future of. wars will be fought. And so China is seeing. from the battlefield. how those drones are used. and how the data is gathered, how the AI can be developed.

and improved upon. to fight better. in those wars. So China gets a lot out. of this participation. in the war. in Ukraine as well. So it's not all one-way traffic. China also gets ever more. leverage over Russia. When the war finishes. Russia will be keen to move. slightly away from China. and slightly towards America. Why wouldn't. you want to be able. to increase. your independence over China. if you resent the fact. that they're so powerful? The interest. in getting a peace. for the United States. is to be able to help. create this degree.

of separation, not a complete break. You're not going to get. a Kissinger moment, but you could get. a movement apart, which I think would. benefit the United States. Putin, I'm sure, would like to have. some [more] leverage. over China. than whatever he has, and it's not very much. If the war stops, he is more dependent on China. and he's become. more dependent on China. since [the] 2014. annexation of Crimea. That's when he. turned to China. Without Chinese support. the Russian economy. couldn't have, I don't think, functioned. at the moment. And so there will be a move. They will want to move away. and move back to Europe.

It would be good for America. It would be good for Europe. It would be good for Russia itself. I mean, post Putin. I think it's also something. the Chinese. are very aware of. At the back of their mind. is exactly that threat. that the Russians. are not reliable, at the first moment. they will turn to the West.