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 facility 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 struggle towards Ukraine, two European intelligence company sources advised Reuters in a report revealed in September.
The European Union has repeatedly urged all international locations, 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 help “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 difficulty with Xi, mentioned he had at all times warned towards deliveries of deadly weapons to Russia and had touched on the difficulty of property twin use in such conversations.
“I’ve at all times addressed the difficulty of so-called dual-use items, as a result of there are completely 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 had been deployed within the struggle towards Ukraine and that it was a “horrible change.”
Asked in regards to the U.S. resolution to authorize long-range Ukrainian airstrikes on Russia, Scholz mentioned Germany wouldn’t observe swimsuit or ship long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Taurus missiles might solely be deployed if Germany shared accountability for controlling the targets, he mentioned, successfully making it a celebration to the struggle. “This is one thing I can not and won’t do,” Scholz mentioned.
“At the identical time we have now a transparent concept that the highly effective weapons we have now offered up to now … 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 the town got here from simply throughout the close by Russian border.
