China approved weapon shipments to Russia for its war in Ukraine earlier this year but wanted them to remain secret, leaked Pentagon documents show.
A top-secret intelligence summary from Feb. 23 obtained by The Washington Post reveals that China's Central Military Commission had "approved the incremental provision" of covert "lethal aid to Russia," which would be disguised as civilian items.
The information was obtained by U.S. eavesdropping on Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, according to the Post.
The classified files were part of a tranche of leaked documents posted last month on a private server on the chat app Discord.
Jack Douglas Teixeira, the 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force National Guard suspected of leaking the highly classified intelligence online will make his first appearance before a federal judge in Boston on Friday.
Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, was arrested by the FBI at his home on Thursday without incident.
U.S. officials have confirmed the authenticity of the documents and the sensitivity of the information they contain, but have also said that some appear to have been tampered with.
A separate U.S. intelligence assessment stated Beijing would see a "significant" Ukrainian attack within Russia using U.S. or NATO-provided weapons "as indicative that Washington was directly responsible for escalating the conflict and possibly as further justification for China to provide Russia with lethal aid."
The intelligence summary provides the clearest evidence to date of what prompted the Biden administration to issue a series of public and private warnings to China beginning at the end of February.
A senior administration official who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity said the administration has not "seen evidence that China has transferred weapons or provided lethal assistance to Russia." The official added that the administration continues to closely monitor the situation.
The Guardian reported that China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, said Friday that Beijing would not supply arms to either side of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and would restrict the export of dual-use technology.
President Joe Biden on Thursday dismissed the significance of the intelligence disclosures.
"There's nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of that is of great consequence," Biden said, according to The Guardian.
Like its Russian ally, China has rebuked NATO and claimed that the war in Ukraine was partially provoked by the expansion of the bloc.
China says it wants to help broker a political settlement between the two sides, and, to that end, has rolled out a 12-point peace plan. Western leaders, however, see Chinese President Xi Jinping's allegiance to Russian President Vladimir Putin as an impediment to that claim.
Xi visited Putin in Moscow last month and toasted to the "deepening of the Russian-Chinese partnership." China views Russia as an important partner to counter the global dominance of the United States and trade between the two countries has increased since the war began.
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