{"id":87910,"date":"2024-07-18T12:03:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T02:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=87910"},"modified":"2024-07-18T12:03:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T02:03:13","slug":"australias-inaction-as-chinese-companies-enable-russias-aggression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-inaction-as-chinese-companies-enable-russias-aggression\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s inaction as Chinese companies enable Russia\u2019s aggression"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

There\u2019s no end in sight to the nightmare of Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine. Scores were left dead and injured across Ukraine last week when Russian missiles struck Kyiv and other cities. One even tore through the country\u2019s largest children\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong called the attack abhorrent and condemned the \u2018targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a laudable sentiment, but Wong\u2019s fine words can\u2019t conceal the massive China-shaped hole in Australia\u2019s response to Russia\u2019s brutality.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government has said<\/a> that \u2018those who provide material support to Russia\u2019s illegal and immoral war will face consequences.\u2019 Australia has accordingly sanctioned a range of North Korean<\/a> and Iranian<\/a> entities and individuals supplying the Russian military.<\/p>\n

Yet Canberra hasn\u2019t fully followed through with its pledge to punish those who materially aid and abet Moscow. More than two years after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Beijing continues to support<\/a> Moscow diplomatically by amplifying<\/a> Kremlin-friendly messages and undermining<\/a> Kyiv\u2019s negotiating position. China has also offered an economic lifeline to Russia in the form of surging<\/a> bilateral trade.<\/p>\n

But worse than all of that, China has backed Russia on the battlefield. Although China might not be sending lethal military assistance, its technology exports<\/a> are critical to Russia\u2019s ability to wage war against Ukraine and its people. According to analysis<\/a> from Nathaniel Sher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, every month China supplies \u2018over [US]$300 million worth of dual-use products identified \u2026 as \u201chigh priority\u201d items necessary for Russia\u2019s weapons production.\u2019<\/p>\n

These essential Chinese inputs to Russia\u2019s defence industry include machine tools, microprocessors, navigation devices, optical equipment and other items. Chinese companies have also acted as intermediaries by transhipping<\/a> foreign-made dual-use goods to Russia. Many of the Russian missiles, drones and tanks targeting Ukraine and its citizens depend on Chinese technology and supply chains to kill and maim.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that Chinese companies even had a hand in the manufacture of the missile that slammed into the children\u2019s hospital in Kyiv last week.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent announcement of more Australian military assistance, Canberra could still be doing more to directly support<\/a> Ukraine. Among other things, the Albanese government could reestablish the Australian embassy in Kyiv, deepen intelligence sharing with Ukraine and elevate the Ukrainian struggle in Australia\u2019s regional diplomacy.<\/p>\n

But the hard truth is that efforts to defend Ukraine and its people will be hamstrung without also tackling China\u2019s support for Russia\u2019s belligerence. As NATO\u2019s Washington Summit Declaration plainly stated<\/a>: China \u2018has become a decisive enabler of Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine through its so-called \u201cno limits\u201d partnership and its large-scale support for Russia\u2019s defence industrial base.\u2019<\/p>\n

Some of Australia\u2019s closest allies and partners have already acted to meet this challenge. The US, EU, Britain and Japan have all levelled sanctions against Chinese companies exporting dual-use products to Russia.<\/p>\n

Although the Albanese government has been a prolific user<\/a> of sanctions against Russia, Myanmar, North Korea, Iran and others, it still hasn\u2019t moved against the Chinese companies supplying Russian defence industry.<\/p>\n

Imposing such sanctions on Chinese companies wouldn\u2019t be entirely risk free for Australia. Beijing could delay the expected removal of the final trade restrictions on live lobster and red meat if Canberra threw the hammer down on Chinese companies. China might even threaten to impose new coercive measures on other Australian exports or freeze some forms of diplomatic contact with Canberra.<\/p>\n

But if China\u2019s so-far fairly boilerplate rhetorical response<\/a> to Japan\u2019s recent sanctions is a reliable guide, then there\u2019s every chance Beijing won\u2019t retaliate.<\/p>\n

And as unhappy as Beijing might be with Canberra for imposing such sanctions, China would still have many compelling reasons to keep ties with Australia broadly stable. China likely doesn\u2019t want to reverse the last few years of ongoing relationship repair with Australia and again suffer the costs of excluding valuable Australian commodities from its market.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s no guarantee that sanctions will persuade China to stop supplying Russia with dual-use technology. The US, EU, British and Japanese sanctions on Chinese companies haven\u2019t yet staunched the flow of the technological inputs that Russia\u2019s defence industry needs. And the long history of sanctions points to their patchy record<\/a> of changing targeted countries\u2019 behaviour.<\/p>\n

But if Australia really is \u2018resolute<\/a> in [its] support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u2019 then it\u2019s hard to see how the Albanese government can avoid imposing such sanctions.<\/p>\n

To give China extra reason to wind back its support for Russia, Australia could also quietly encourage regional allies and partners like New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore to take similar measures. Beijing might not be swayed even if Canberra could build a coalition of regional capitals willing to act against the Chinese companies supplying Russia\u2019s war machine. And yet such an approach still stands a better chance of changing China\u2019s calculus than the verbal objections<\/a> that the Albanese government has offered to date.<\/p>\n

Speaking last month at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill Shorten called for a world \u2018where no country dominates and no country is dominated.\u2019<\/p>\n

This is a noble goal. But Australia can\u2019t hope to build that kind of world if it isn\u2019t willing to take concrete action against China\u2019s material support for Russia\u2019s invasion and occupation of Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no end in sight to the nightmare of Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine. Scores were left dead and injured across Ukraine last week when Russian missiles struck Kyiv and other cities. One even tore through …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":87914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,52,163,3878,379],"class_list":["post-87910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-sanctions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia\u2019s inaction as Chinese companies enable Russia\u2019s aggression | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-inaction-as-chinese-companies-enable-russias-aggression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia\u2019s inaction as Chinese companies enable Russia\u2019s aggression | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s no end in sight to the nightmare of Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine. 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