Washington is becoming increasingly concerned by China’s moves to side with Moscow on security issues on the European continent, the Pentagon has warned amid weeks of standoff across the border between Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking in a briefing on Monday, defense spokesman John Kirby set out his view on the increasingly close collaboration between Beijing and Moscow in the face of mounting Western pressure.
“We certainly have been watching the – at least public – burgeoning relationship between Russia and China,” he remarked, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s declaration calling for a halt to NATO expansion earlier this month.
“Their February 4 joint statement certainly provided further evidence that China has decided that they’re going to stand alongside Russia with respect to what’s going on in Europe,” Kirby said. “We would say that their tacit support, if you will, for Russia is deeply alarming.”
According to Kirby, Beijing’s backing of Moscow on high-stakes issues is “even more destabilizing to the security situation in Europe.”