Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested in an interview with the Financial Times on Friday that China may have played a role in persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear weapons amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, China has attempted to maintain a delicate diplomatic balance. Although China has refrained from openly supporting Russia’s military actions, the U.S. has criticized China for supplying Russia with various dual-use goods, such as semiconductors, drone parts, sensors, earth-moving equipment, and nitrocellulose, which is used in rocket propellants.
According to Blinken, China might have leveraged its relationship with Putin to dissuade him from escalating the situation by deploying nuclear weapons in the conflict. He stated, “We have reason to believe that China engaged Russia and said: ‘Don’t go there,” and added, “Even if the probability went from 5 to 15%, when it comes to nuclear weapons, nothing is more serious.”
Blinken further speculated that China likely intervened to prevent Putin from launching a nuclear weapon into space, particularly after heightened tensions in November, when Putin significantly reduced the threshold for using nuclear weapons following the U.S. administration’s approval of strikes inside Russian territory.
In his remarks, Blinken commended President Biden’s handling of relations with Russia and reiterated the administration’s commitment to providing continued support to Ukraine. “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan. 20,” Blinken noted in November, referring to the timeline before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated.
{Matzav.com}