Russia needs all the help it can get in Ukraine. Moscow’s marauding forces have their hands full. They have taken stupendous losses to achieve mere meters of hard-fought territorial gains. To help the cause, the Russians welcomed a force of more than 14,000 North Koreans to fight the Ukrainians. Now there are reports that hundreds of Chinese nationals might be fighting for Russia. This would line up with the logic of an alliance between the governments in Beijing and Moscow. It would stand to reason that Chinese President Xi Jinping would direct his military to help his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in at least a limited fashion.
China Says No Way on Ukraine War
The Chinese are throwing cold water on reports of its countrymen fighting in Russia and Ukraine. Beijing strongly denies that its troops are participating in the war. A Chinese official said April 9 that these rumors are “totally unfounded.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his forces caught at least two Chinese nationals on the battlefield. He thinks that “significantly more” are fighting for Russia. It is not clear whether these would be active-duty troops of the People’s Liberation Army, or citizen volunteers with some military experience. China refutes either possibility.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing April 9 that “the Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones, avoid getting involved in any form of armed conflict, and especially refrain from participating in any party’s military operations.”
United States Says This Would be ‘Disturbing’ If True
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a briefing in Washington on April 8 that the possibility of Chinese citizens fighting for Russia would be “disturbing.”
“China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine,” Bruce said. “China provides nearly 80 percent of the dual-use items Russia needs to sustain the war,” she claimed.
China and Russia Are Engaging In Trade
This is the first time that Chinese nationals have been reported fighting with Russia. The Chinese have offered some assistance to Russia during the war through trade relations. China is helping economically by buying Russian oil and gas, as well as some manufactured goods and food. Russian citizens have purchased Chinese cars.
It’s the Military Assistance that is Worrisome
There are also some military-related components exchanging hands between China and Russia. “China has been the primary supplier of dual-use goods to Russian manufacturers, particularly semiconductors, microelectronics, and machine tools used to produce ballistic missiles. This assistance also extends to lethal aid, with Chinese and Russian firms reportedly cooperating on the production of a new generation of loitering munitions for use on the war’s frontlines,” according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
China has provided diplomatic support to Russia. However, Beijing is not known to have offered active-duty frontline troops or advanced military hardware to Moscow.
The purported Chinese fighters may just be civilians who are volunteering in the fight. Russia is paying the North Koreans wages to battle the Ukrainians. Perhaps the Chinese reportedly fighting in Ukraine want to make some spare yuans in exchange for combat, or they are simply seeking adventure.
Still, this is a potentially embarrassing development for China, especially as Xi would like his country to help broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Such an act would elevate the importance of China on the global stage and allow Xi to demonstrate a high level of statesmanship.
Axis of Authoritarianism
Meanwhile, the United States believes there is gathering evidence of a new axis of authoritarian countries that threaten world peace. Russia is teaming up with North Korea, China, and now Iran. Tehran already supplies drones to Russia. The growing axis is a troubling development, as the United States and NATO try to promote a significant level of democratic capitalism around the world and blunt the power of authoritarian governments. The Ukrainian war serves as a proxy battlefield in this global struggle.
Moreover, China and the United States are in a trade war, and U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran unless it agrees to negotiate regarding its nuclear program. North Korea is always causing trouble on the Korean peninsula, having recently sent troops over the DMZ.
All of those developments dismay Western countries who believe there should be a global liberal order that favors a democratic brand of pluralist government very different from the totalitarian regimes of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.
J-20 Fighter from China. Image Credit: Chinese Internet.
China is not likely to be commanding large numbers of its active-duty military personnel to join the battle in Ukraine and Russia. More evidence would leak out if the Chinese were fighting in great numbers. What is likelier is the potential presence of Chinese military advisors and observers who could be assisting the Russians with tactics, techniques, and procedures. The PLA would also love to see the fighting in person so that it could adjust its own tactics and strategy for a possible future showdown with the United States or Taiwan.
The Americans have denied that they have boots on the ground in Ukraine, but they are likely gathering intelligence about the war from a distance to incorporate new lessons. There are also American civilian volunteers fighting in Ukraine, with approximately 20 missing in action as of this month.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
