China is may be developing even deadlier kamikaze-style drones for Russia, according to United States allies.
Company officials in China, who wish to remain anonymous, discussed collaborating in 2023 to recreate Iran's Shahed drone and started developing and testing a version this year in preparation for shipment to Russia, according to Bloomberg.
The Chinese drones have yet to be used in Ukraine, they said.
Providing Russia with a Shahed-like drone would deepen Beijing's support for Moscow, despite US and ally warnings. While President Xi Jinping claims China is neutral in the Ukraine conflict, Western officials say China has aided Putin's forces.
US officials say China is holding back on supplying weapons and artillery, as this would escalate tensions and likely result in sanctions against the world's second-largest economy.
"On the Ukraine crisis, it is quite clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace, and who is fueling the fight and inciting confrontation,"Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for China's embassy in the US, noted in a statement.
"We urge the relevant countries to immediately stop fueling the fight and inciting confrontation."
Since the war began, Russia has used thousands of Shahed drones against Ukraine and built a factory to mass-produce them. These Iranian drones are cheap to make but costly to defend against.
Russia relies heavily on countries like North Korea and Iran for supplies and on China for critical parts; however, there's major concern over China producing Shahed-like drones at a much higher rate than Iran or Russia.
Officials didn't name the drone being developed, but Chinese defense websites and media reports suggest it is a kamikaze drone called the Sunflower 200 that resembles the Iranian Shahed 136.
On Tuesday, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told Bloomberg,
"China takes every effort, every chance it can get to argue that somehow it's a neutral player in this war in Ukraine, but in reality, the People's Republic of China (RPC) is providing a long list of dual-use components, things like machine tools and microelectronics, that are enabling Russia to pursue this war of aggression in Ukraine."
Smith added:
"Here inside NATO, we're making sure that we can expose the fact that the PRC is no longer a neutral player and warn China about the risk of getting behind Russia in this unprovoked war of aggression."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said President Xi had given him his word at the G-7 summit that he would not provide Russia with weapons.
