The EU is concerned that China is ready to help President Vladimir Putin’s government weather the economic penalties it has put in place along with the U.S., the U.K. and Japan with particular focus on the availability of high-tech components, according to two people with knowledge of the bloc’s internal assessments.
U.S. officials have also warned that Beijing may provide help to Putin, and China’s potential influence on the situation in Ukraine was a central issue in discussions Thursday between President Joe Biden and his allies from NATO, the Group of Seven industrialized nations and the EU in Brussels. At the NATO summit there was a broad consensus that the allies should prevent China from getting too close to Russia, but there was no agreement on how they should achieve that, another diplomat said.