“It is fair to say that China’s overall goal, in our view, is not only to fully support Russia, but to publicly disparage it and seek to maintain normal diplomatic and commercial relations with Europe,” Campbell told a small number of media outlets, including Politico, during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday.
“We were encouraged by the discussions at the NAC yesterday. [North Atlantic Council, the main political decision-making body within NATO] “What’s important is that many European countries have made clear their view that it is impossible to have normal relations with China if at the same time China is covertly fomenting the most destabilizing war in Europe since the Second World War,” Campbell said.
Campbell said he was “deeply concerned” about Beijing’s assistance to Russia over the past 18 to 24 months.
“I want to emphasize that what we have seen from China to Russia is not a one-off event or the product of a few unscrupulous companies backing Russia.
“This is a sustained and comprehensive effort supported by the Chinese leadership, aimed at giving Russia all the support behind the scenes to enable it to rebuild its military capabilities, its long-range missiles and its drones,” he said. [unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones]”You lose some of your ability to track battlefield movements, long-range artillery and things like that,” Campbell said. “This is an effort that’s designed to be largely invisible.”
EV tariffs
Apart from a war with Russia, one area of concern shared by the US and the EU is China’s excess capacity when it comes to trade.