RIO DE JANEIRO: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned on Monday (Nov 18) he’ll focus on the supply of dual-use items with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the G20 summit, following a report {that a} Chinese manufacturing unit is producing army drones for Russia.
Russia has established a weapons program in China to develop and produce long-range assault drones to be used within the battle in opposition to Ukraine, two European intelligence company sources informed Reuters in a report revealed in September.
The European Union has repeatedly urged all nations, together with China, to not present materials or different assist to Russia, which started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier within the day, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock mentioned China’s drone support “should and could have penalties.”
Scholz, when requested whether or not he agreed together with his minister and whether or not he would focus on the problem with Xi, mentioned he had all the time warned in opposition to deliveries of deadly weapons to Russia and had touched on the problem of property twin use in such conversations.
“I’ve all the time addressed the problem of so-called dual-use items, as a result of there are totally different practices, however we should not be naive,” Scholz mentioned. He added that he would additionally inform Xi that it was unacceptable that North Korean troopers have been deployed within the battle in opposition to Ukraine and that it was a “horrible change.”
Asked concerning the U.S. determination to authorize long-range Ukrainian airstrikes on Russia, Scholz mentioned Germany wouldn’t comply with swimsuit or ship long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Taurus missiles may solely be deployed if Germany shared duty for controlling the targets, he mentioned, successfully making it a celebration to the battle. “This is one thing I can not and won’t do,” Scholz mentioned.
“At the identical time we’ve got a transparent concept that the highly effective weapons we’ve got supplied to this point … can’t be used to penetrate deep into the Russian hinterland,” he mentioned, stressing that he had granted an exemption for Kharkiv, within the northeast of Ukraine, after the assaults on town got here from simply throughout the close by Russian border.
