U.S. President Joe Biden is sending his national security adviser for talks with a senior Chinese official in Rome on Monday as concerns grow that China is amplifying Russian disinformation in the Ukraine war and may help Russia evade punishment from economic sanctions.
The talks between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi will centre on "efforts to manage the competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia's war against Ukraine on regional and global security," said Emily Horne, speaking for the White House national security council.
The White House has accused Beijing of spreading false Russian claims that Ukraine was running chemical and biological weapons labs with U.S. support. U.S. officials said China was attempting to provide cover for a potential biological or chemical weapons attack on Ukrainians by the Russian military.
Sullivan said on NBC's on Sunday that when Russia starts accusing other countries of preparing to launch biological or chemical attacks, "it's a good tell that they may be on the cusp of doing it themselves."
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Russia accused of ‘false flag’ tactics over bioweapons claim about U.S., Ukraine
2 days agoDuration 2:03The United Nations says there’s no evidence to prove Russia’s claim that Ukraine ran biological warfare laboratories with U.S. support. Ukraine expressed concern that Russia’s claim could be a ‘false flag’ tactic designed to allow the Kremlin to use its own biological weapons against Ukrainians. 2:03
He also said China and other countries should not try to help Russia work around the sanctions and the U.S. has made it clear that other countries should not bail out the Russian economy. "We will ensure that neither China nor anyone else can compensate Russia for these losses," Sullivan said.
The striking accusations about Russian disinformation and Chinese complicity came after Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova alleged with no evidence that the U.S. was financing Ukrainian chemical and biological weapons labs.
UN has no evidence of bio labs
The Russian claim was echoed by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who claimed there were 26 bio labs and related facilities in "which the U.S. Department of Defense has absolute control." The United Nations has said it has received no information backing up such accusations.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki last week called the claims "preposterous."
"Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them," Psaki tweeted Wednesday night. "It's a clear pattern."
Russia ready to 'pin the blame elsewhere'
Sulllivan, who appeared on several of the Sunday U.S. news shows before his trip, told on CBS that the Russian rhetoric on chemical and biological warfare is an indicator that in fact the Russians are getting ready to do it and try and pin the blame elsewhere and nobody should fall for that."
The international community for years has assessed that Russia has used chemical weapons in carrying out assassination attempts against Putin detractors such as Alexei Navalny and former spy Sergei Skripal. Russia also supports the Assad government in Syria, which has used chemical weapons against its people in a decade-long civil war.
Putin's media crackdown creating a 'parallel reality' in Russia, says journalist who fled
18 hours agoDuration 6:12Alexey Kovalyov, investigative editor of Russian outlet Meduza, says state media outlets are pushing a tightly controlled narrative and independent media is 'effectively outlawed' amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 6:12
Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, CIA Director William Burns also noted grave concern that Russia might be laying the groundwork for a chemical or biological attack of its own, which it would then blame on the U.S. or Ukraine in a false flag operation.
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"This is something, as all of you know very well, is very much a part of Russia's playbook," he said. "They've used these weapons against their own citizens, they've at least encouraged the use in Syria and elsewhere, so it's something we take very seriously."
The Chinese abstained on UN votes censuring Russia and has criticized economic sanctions against Moscow. It has expressed its support for peace talks and offered its services as a mediator, despite questions about its nxjmtzyweutrality and scant experience mediating international conflict.
