Analysis – Ukraine crisis threatens China’s discreet pipeline in military technology – the Russian and Ukrainian war is going to impact the international relations of Russia with several countries as we have seen thousands of sanctions have already been announced on the Russian side.
Western countries and their allies, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, have already announced several sanctions, but now experts are talking about the Ukrainian side and its international relations.
Surely, Ukrainians are also going to review their international relations with several countries depending on the support they get during the crisis. During the war, Ukrainian president Zelensky has already talked to every chief of major countries, including India, Brazil, the European Union, NATO.
Apart from verbal consolidation and military aid, Ukrainians have not got anything. Before Russia announced a special military operation against the Ukrainian side, president of Ukraine Zelensky was very confident that NATO would join him soon in the war, which did not happen.
Just like NATO, the European Union also did not do anything in terms of joining the war and trying to stop Russians from invading the country. Even though the European Union has added him to its union, nobody has announced the military help Ukraine was looking for.
Ukraine and China pipeline of Military technology
On more than one occasion, when Ukraine needed a vote in the United Nations Security Council against the Russian invasion, Chinese were not available there.
Many experts on Ukraine China relations, after the incident, shared their concern regarding the Ukraine China pipeline in military technology.
You might not believe it, but for more than two decades, China relied heavily on Ukraine and its military technology to expand its own military capability.
Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union from the start till 1991, can’t comment on other fields, but Ukrainians have advanced missile and Aerospace related technology since then.
Ukraine and China have been on very good terms since the independence of Ukraine from Soviet Russia. From the 1990s to early 2000, China relied heavily on Ukrainian technology, but in recent years China has developed itself and switched its whole economy from agriculture focus to all the way technology.
In the last 20 years, China has become one of the biggest hubs of technology in the world, but still, there are a few areas in which the Chinese are not great, for example, missile technology and Aerospace.
As per the data, the Chinese have been importing technology for turbofan engine aircraft from the Ukrainian government. Apart from that one, another deal that was very significant for the Chinese was 30 gas turbines for 15 destroyers.
During the Ukrainian war against Russians, China tried to stay out of every situation, including voting in the United States Security Council. That is why most of the Foreign Relations experts said Ukrainian might review their relations with the Chinese.
War is one of the biggest national problems for a country, and during that time, the country requires as much support as possible from its good friends. But Ukraine did not get any support from the Chinese, but China proved that they were going to go with another communist country.
View of Ukraine on Chinese stand
Ukrainian governments have not issued any statement regarding their situation with Chinese relations. But many Foreign Relations experts have already expressed their concerns.
As per the experts, a pipeline in military technologies between Ukrainians and Chinese is surely going to happen as the Chinese have been growing their ties with Moscow during the war.
Even in history, Ukrainians have never used their relations with other countries in order to gain benefit during any conflict with Russia.
During the 2014 Ukraine Russia crisis, the Ukrainian side did not use any of their Foreign Relations to put pressure on Russians. Even the Chinese side has grown in terms of technology since 2014, but at that time, the Chinese military was heavily relying on Ukraine for its military technology.
But the time has changed now. The 2014 conflict between both nations ended in just a few days, And the Ukrainian side did not get any time to do something like that.
Now Ukraine is under a full-fledged war against Russia, and in the last few days, Beijing has shown a soft side against Moscow.
Stand of Beijing
Since the war broke out between Ukraine and Russia, Beijing has not taken any side as the officials were not available at the time of the voting in the United Nations and United Nations Security Council.
There was more than one incident when Russia vetoed any resolution against them, but China did not take any side, neither Russians nor Ukrainian.
Even though China sees Russia as a competition, ideologically, they could be better allies than Ukraine. Russia and China are both communist countries.
Chinese officials have not talked about anything regarding the situation as the Ukraine crisis threatens China’s discreet pipeline in military technology.
Foreign Relations experts believe the Chinese are not going to take any side till the matter is resolved, and most probably, they will follow the point of view of Russians.
Previously Ukrainians were more lenient when it came to exporting any military technology than Russians. But now, the situation has changed, and Russia has been on the radar of many countries.
As you are already aware, Russians have surpassed the highest number of sanctions on any country. Experts believe the Chinese will do business with Russians under a few conditions, such as the export of military technology, which the Chinese need more than anything.
Post-war Possibilities
Till the 10th of March 2022, the war between Russians and Ukrainians has not ended yet, but experts have started reviewing the post-war possibilities.
Experts believe Ukrainians have realized nobody is going to help them when they need it the most. NATO and allied nations did not join the war as Ukrainians thought before the conflict.
The Ukrainian president was very confident before the war broke out. He was sure the United States and allied nations would take the side of Ukraine in the war, and in the pressure, Vladimir Putin will back off.
Apart from that, he also believed the United States would influence every country in the world to stand against Russians, and he will be in a great position if war breaks out ever in the future.
But nothing happened like that. European Union and NATO allied nations only criticized the war, but nobody offered any helping hand other than a few weapons.
On the 9th of March 2022, Ukrainian president Zelensky announced he was not going to join NATO. He even said Ukraine wants peace. Security experts believe in a few days, both countries will negotiate the comes of the ceasefire, and Russians might stop bombing Ukrainian cities.
Once everything is settled. Ukraine will try to move away from the United States and NATO. Previously the country was under the influence of the United States, and it caused them one war to realize they were not allies.
Takeaway
Before the war between Russia and Ukraine, Beijing and Kyiv were on very good terms. The Chinese relied heavily on Ukraine for military technology even though they were producing one of the highest numbers of electronic goods in the world.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chinese relied on Ukrainian technology for their military expansion. They even tried to take over a local Ukrainian aircraft engine maker, but due to the intervention of the United States, the transfer was stopped.
Even though the technology Ukrainian has is available in Moscow also, everyone knows it is very hard to get any military technology out of Moscow. On the other hand, Ukrainians are way more lenient.
In the last few weeks, Beijing has not taken any part in resolution voting against Russian aggression over Ukrainian matters. Even during the war, Beijing is clearly taking the side of Moscow, and Ukrainians have learned a lot of new lessons.
Many experts believe the Ukraine crisis threatens China’s discreet pipeline in military technology, During the war and even after the war. The Chinese still need Ukrainian help in missile and aerospace technology.
Will Ukraine stop helping China with its military technology pipeline?
Till the war between Ukraine and Russia is going on, nobody can make a comment on it. It is possible that the Ukraine crisis threatens China’s discreet pipeline in military technology, but at that time, we’ll tell the real story.
How much does China rely on Ukraine for military technology?
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chinese relied heavily on Ukrainian military technology. China did not join the arms race till then as other countries in the world. In the last 20 years, Chinese technology has developed more than any country in the world, but they still rely on missile and aerospace technology in Ukraine.