China hasn’t yet provided weapons to Russia in Ukraine, which would be ‘real mistake’: Jake Sullivan

Following warnings from the Biden administration that China is weighing whether to provide Russia with lethal aid for their war in Ukraine, the White House’s national security adviser said Sunday that “at this point” they have “not seen them take the step of providing weapons” to Moscow.

“We are watching closely,” Jake Sullivan told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “We know they haven’t taken it off the table. And we are sending a clear message, as are our European allies, that this would be a real mistake because those weapons would be used to bombard cities and kill civilians, and China should want no part of that.”

Sullivan said it was difficult to say whether China is “backing on, backing off” of the decision but that “what I can say is so far, we have not seen them do it.”

President Joe Biden told ABC’s David Muir in an interview last week that the U.S. stood ready to respond if Beijing moved forward with that decision, while Sullivan said on “This Week” that the U.S. government’s focus right now is to help Ukrainians “retake territory on the ground” in its southern and eastern territories.

Chinese officials have defended their relationship with Russia as “built on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third countries.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

China hasn’t yet provided weapons to Russia in Ukraine, which would be ‘real mistake’: Jake Sullivan originally appeared on abcnews.go.com