China has "provided Russia with dual-use materials" and this has been " one of the key factors that has radically changed the situation on the battlefield" in Ukraine, said Avril Haines, Director of U.S. National Intelligence
According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on May 3, two senior U.S. intelligence officials admitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 2 that joint military exercises between China and Russia near the Taiwan Strait have forced the United States to develop new defense plans.
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse of the U.S. Air Force, director of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, told the committee that Chinese and Russian operations "over the last couple of years have caused the U.S. Department of Defense to revise its analysis and become more concerned about what our joint force requirements are [in the region]."
Lt. Gen. Jeffrey A. Kruse is the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C. As the Director of DIA, Lt. Gen. Photo Air Force
He also disclosed that "even if Russia and China do not operate in concert militarily, they certainly do and we need to take that into account in our force structure and planning. We are making revisions today."
The U.S. sanctioned 31 Chinese companies for providing critical technologies to Russia for its defense industrial base. "We said we would act if China did not stop these sales.", the U.S. State Department said on May 1.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also spoke out, saying that the joint exercises demonstrate "the certainty that China wants Russia to work with it, and the fact that we see no reason why [Russia] shouldn't," and that "[Russian-Chinese] cooperation continues to grow." ...... covers all areas of society, political, economic, military, technological, etc., and such understanding is leading to new planning for many aspects of our government."
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines - Photo NSA
Furthermore, they argued that China and Russia had “pre-positioned” weak points in US military and infrastructure assets, allowing them to carry out so-called “cyber attacks.”
Haynes also said that China has "provided Russia with dual-use materials," describing this as one of the "key factors that radically changed the battlefield situation" in Ukraine. China has "pulled the strings" in Ukraine, he said.
Russia and China would begin "joint maritime" military exercises in the East China Sea in 2022. This is the closest the two countries have come to the Taiwan Strait in more than a decade of annual military exercises.
Ambassador Julianne Smith - Photo U.S. MISSION TO THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianna Smith spoke at the time, saying that the United States was concerned that Russia and China "could share strategies and means to undermine NATO unity."
The Sino-Russian joint military exercise "Maritime Joint-2022" - Photo: Observer
The Sino-Russian joint military exercise "Maritime Joint-2022" - Photo: Observer
The Sino-Russian joint military exercise "Maritime Joint-2022" - Photo: Observer
In December last year, in accordance with the annual cooperation plan of the Chinese and Russian armies, the two sides organized and implemented the seventh joint strategic air patrol in the relevant airspace of the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. This is also the second joint air strategic cruise organized and implemented by China and Russia in 2023. Yonhap News Agency quoted the South Korean Joint Staff Headquarters (JSC) as saying that on that day, two Chinese military planes and four Russian military planes entered South Korea's eastern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) for a time and stayed there for about 17 minutes without violating South Korea's airspace.
The South China Morning Post pointed out that South Korea is one of the United States' closest allies in Asia.
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