On September 25, 2025, EVC Executive Director Jakub Janda testified before the joint session of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China (D-CN) and Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (D-RU. Members of the European Parliament inquired about the state of Russia-China relations.
Below are Jakub Janda’s five assessments, which he presented to the joint session:
- China wants Russia to keep applying lethal force against Ukrainians. According to the US INDOPACOM, Beijing has provided 70 percent of the machine tools and 90 percent of legacy chips that have enabled Moscow to rebuild its war machine since the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine.
- Chinese strategic support for the Russian war in Europe increases every year. Since 2022, China has aligned its industrial and political interests with those of Russia. Every year, Chinese support for Moscow expands.
- Given Europe’s reluctance to apply hard sanctions on China, Beijing does not see the continent as a player with significant leverage. Europe has failed to stop Chinese backing of the Russian war precisely because European states refuse to impose harsh sanctions on Beijing.
- China materially supports Russian preparations for a possible future military attack on NATO. The Russian state runs its industry at a war pace, while China provides materials, funding, technological, intelligence, and political backing. Beijing also sabotages European rearmament by constraining imports of critical materials by the European defense industry, which further aids Russia. Europe does nothing but cry loudly.
- Chinese planners carefully watch European actions now to assess the European role in a future Taiwan conflict. If China attacks Taiwan, it will surely lose the American market, making Europe the most important economic partner of China. If Beijing sees that Europe does not sanction it over the Russian war in Ukraine, China can be sure that Europe will not cut its economic ties with Beijing over a Taiwan conflict. As European democracies, we are repeating the mistakes of 1937 and 1938, sleepwalking into a disaster.