Der Spiegel reveals details of "kamikaze drone" negotiations between Russia and China. -- China Boss update 2.24.23
Update
What happened.
German newspaper Der Spiegel says it has the scoop on weapons negotiations between Russia and China after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference that “providing lethal support to Russia … would have serious consequences.”
Blinken later said the US was considering revealing evidence it had showing Beijing “on the brink” of supplying weapons to the Russian military, but, it seems, Der Spiegel beat him to it earlier today when it published the details of negotiations for Russia’s purchase of 100 strike drones from a Chinese manufacturer.
Der Spiegel:
[I]nformation obtained by DER SPIEGEL indicates that the planned cooperation between Beijing and Moscow goes even further than Blinken makes it sound.
According to that information, the Russian military is engaged in negotiations with Chinese drone manufacturer Xi'an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology over the mass production of kamikaze drones for Russia. The revelations create a new urgency in the debate over possible Chinese military support for Russia.
Bingo has reportedly agreed to manufacture and test 100 ZT-180 prototype drones before delivering them to the Russian Defense Ministry by April 2023. Military experts believe the ZT-180 is capable of carrying a 35- to 50 kilogram warhead.
Why it matters.
Beijing’s unlikely to talk its way out of this one
China Boss did some digging into the drone maker Xi'an Bingo and discovered it has an address at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shaanxi province which is categorized as a "very high" risk institution for heavy involvement in China's military-civil fusion program, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. "Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU) is designated very high risk because of its top-secret secrecy credentials, very high number of defence labs and defence research areas, involvement in illegal exports, and supervision by MIIT [Ministry of Industry and Information Technology]," ASPI researchers said.
NWPU is also one of China’s Seven Sons of National Defense (Chinese: 国防七子) which are national public research universities funded by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and tasked with developing close scientific research partnerships and projects with the Chinese military.
ASPI:
The depth of the Seven Sons’ integration with the military suggests that it would be more accurate to describe them as defence universities than as civilian universities. In fact, they call themselves ‘defence science, technology and industry work units’ or parts of the ‘defence system’.13
Said differently, I don’t see how Beijing can plausibly claim ignorance about Xi’an Bingo’s relationship with the Russian Defense Ministry which is the PRC’s latest response to the allegations. Of course, if Xi really didn’t know about the deal - and, for the record, anything is possible in the decentralized, shady labyrinth of China’s military-industrial complex - then we have to assume he has little-to-no command over a major PLA partner which raises a different set of equally disturbing issues.
The end of the world as we know it?
On Wednesday, a German reporter asked State Department spokesman Ned Price (video below) whether China siding with Russia would be viewed by the US as the start of World War III. Price replied that "We are going to do everything we can to provide Ukraine assistance . . . [and] to manage escalation to see to it that this does not turn into a broader conflict."
But with each day the war continues, the chances of NATO involvement rise. Politico’s Matthew Karnitschnig said that “one [couldn’t] help but notice more than a hint of foreboding just beneath the surface” at last week’s Munich Security Conference, an annual event where the world’s top officials and experts gather to discuss international security.
Politico
For some attendees, the vibe in the crowded Bayerischer Hof hotel where the gathering takes place carried echoes of 1938. That year, the Bavarian capital hosted a conference that resulted in the infamous Munich Agreement, in which European powers ceded the Sudetenland to Germany in a misguided effort they believed could preserve peace.
“We all know that there is a storm brewing outside, but here inside the Bayerischer Hof all seems normal,” wrote Andrew Michta, dean of the College of International and Security Studies at the Germany-based Marshall Center. “It all seems so routine, and yet it all changes suddenly when a Ukrainian parliamentarian pointedly tells the audience we are failing to act fast enough.”
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also expressed his fears that Chinese military support would "risk World War III."
Andalou Agency:
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he contacted the Chinese leadership and "asked them not to provide any support to Russia" in its war against Ukraine.
"My hope is that the government in Beijing will maintain a pragmatic attitude, otherwise we risk World War III – we are all aware of that," Zelenskyy said in an interview with Italian daily la Repubblica.
Ukraine has always had an "excellent relationship with China" and it is "in everyone's interest not to worsen it," he added.
Watch on YouTube.
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Have a great weekend.
