NATO headquarters. (Photo from VCG)

By Zhang Xuanhao

In response to the US claims thatChina's support for Russiahas prolonged the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Lin Jian, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, said at a regular press conference on June 19, "We firmly oppose attempts of the US to spread baseless disinformation and shift blame to China". NATO countries led by the US have frequently attacked the normal trade exchanges between China and Russia, which is merely designed to find a so-called "China-related excuse" for their military failures, and will by no means help solve the Ukraine crisis.

Ukraine, with support from NATO, has not changed its situation. The Ukrainian military almost totally relies on foreign aid for the main equipment and funding. In spite of the large amount of aid from NATO, the balance of victory over the Ukraine crisis has not tilted to Ukraine as expected.

As a matter of fact, the aid it now receives has reached the aid ceiling for NATO countries, especially the US, but it still falls short of the needs of the Ukrainian military. For this reason, no matter how busily NATO supports Ukraine through unfair means, it is unlikely to reverse the unfavorable situation currently facing Ukraine.

The US military industrial complex becomes the winner behind the Ukraine crisis, which has prompted NATO countries, especially the US, to collectively expand their arms production. The defense industry is highly concentrated, with the orders of the highest values and largest amounts going to four US arm-sale giants: Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Taking 155mm shells as an example, before the Ukraine crisis, the unit price of US-made 155mm shells was about 1,000U.S. dollars, and subsequently,it rose to 4,800 U.S. dollars in 2024. The share prices of those giants soar along with the prices of military products.Since 2022, the share price of Lockheed Martin, the "bellwether" of the US defense industrial companies, has risen by 37%, Northrop Grumman's nearly by 40%, and Raytheon's nearly by 17%. Franklin C. Spinney, a former military analyst for the Pentagon, pointed out in an articlethat the US militaryindustrial complex leveraged the Russia-Ukraine conflict to exaggerate the fear of Russia, aiming to create an opportunity for a new round of armament spending, as well as seek profit from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other regional conflicts in the long run.

NATO attempts to fabricate an excuse for its own failure by blackmailing China. Since June this year, the US-led NATO has repeatedly blackmailed China, accusing China of being "responsible" for the Ukraine crisis. On June 13, during the G7 summit in Italy, US President Joe Biden claimed, "China is not supplying weapons but the ability to produce those weapons and the technology available to do it. So, it is, in fact, helping Russia." On June 17, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg "warned China" that if China continues to help Russia, NATO will "impose a cost on China". China is not a party to the Ukraine crisis. China never fuels the flames or exploits the situation for selfish gains, and is committed to promoting talks for peace.

China published the China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis in February 2023, and released the Common Understandings between China and Brazil on Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis in May 2024. For the Ukraine crisis, China has always takenthe termination of the war as its foremost goal and upheld the consistent position of promoting peace talks. On the contrary, the US-led NATO bloc, hasrepeatedly takenthe initiative to escalate the situation in Ukraine. Its attempt, however, fails to realize its intention of suppressing Russia. Therefore, it had to reverse its agenda and issue packages of sanctions against Russia, imposing sanctions on more than 300 companies and dozens of individuals who carry out normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia. This is in effect an "excuse"fabricated for losing ground in the Ukraine crisis.

Shifting blame to China will neither solve the domestic military production problems in the US and European countries, nor yield peace and stability for Ukraine. The only plan beneficial to the future of Ukraine is to bring Russia and Ukraine back to the negotiating table at an early date.

Editor's note: Originally published on opinion.haiwainet.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.