Austin warns that China providing support to Russia would be ‘ill-advised’

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday warned that it would be "ill-advised" for China to provide any material assistance to Russia in support of its unprovoked war against Ukraine.

“I'm sure China would love to enjoy a good relationship with all of the countries in Europe,” Austin told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in an interview on Friday. “And again, if you just look at the numbers of countries around the world that really think that what Russia has done is horrible, I mean, adding to that I think China, it would be a very ill-advised step for China to take.”

U.S. officials have recently said they have intelligence showing China is considering providing lethal weapons to Russia’s military in Ukraine. Both U.S. officials and European allies have since launched warnings to China that it would face serious consequences if were to aid the Kremlin's war effort.

Austin said Friday while the Pentagon hasn’t yet seen China provide any military assistance to Russia, Beijing “hasn't taken that off the table for sure.” The Defense secretary said he engaged his counterpart, Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe, “early on” to tell him “this would be a very bad mistake if China were to do this” and that it would “further complicate things.”

“China has a lot of capability in terms of munitions and weapons,” Austin said. “And if they provide the substantial support to Russia, it prolongs the conflict.”

The Pentagon chief also divulged in the interview that he is not currently in contact with his Chinese counterpart, who did not take a call from Austin when the U.S shot down a Chinese spy balloon in early February. The last time the two spoke was “a couple of months ago,” Austin said.

“I think it's really, really important to make sure that we maintain lines of communication open. I think leaders need to be able to talk to each other to avoid misperceptions and manage crises,” Austin said. “And so this is really important. And so we hope that Minister Wei will have a change of heart and schedule that call.”