(Adds details from U.S. officials, background)
By Steve Holland and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - China is supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine by helping Moscow ramp up its defense production through large amounts of machine tools, microelectronics, drone and cruise missile technology, senior U.S. officials said on Friday.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. President Joe Biden raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their recent phone call and that it is a topic of discussion with U.S. allies in Europe and around the world.
One official said Chinese materials are filing critical gaps in Russia's defense production cycle and helping Moscow undertake its "most ambitious defense expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict."
"Our view is that one of the most game-changing moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC (China) to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base. Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC input," the official said.
Some of the information provided by the officials in a small briefing with reporters was based on declassified intelligence. They sketched a wide array of ways China is helping Russia's two-year war against Ukraine without providing lethal assistance.
The Russians have likely used machine tool imports from China to increase its ballistic missile production, the officials said. They cited Dalian Machine Tool Group, one of China’s leading machine tool manufacturers, as one company supplying Russia.
In 2023, 90 percent of Russia’s microelectronics imports came from China, which Russia has used to produce missiles, tanks, and aircraft, the officials said.
They said that Chinese companies such as Wuhan Global Sensor Technology Co, Wuhan Tongsheng Technology Co Ltd, and Hikvision
are providing Chinese optical components for use in Russian systems, including tanks and armored vehicles.
In addition, Russia has received military optics for tanks and armored vehicles that Chinese firms iRay Technology
and North China Research Institute of Electro-Optics manufacture, they said.
The officials also said China has provided Russia with drone engines and turbojet engines for cruise missiles, and that Chinese and Russian entities have been working to jointly produce drones inside Russia.
Chinese companies are likely providing Russia with nitrocellulose to make propellants for weapons, helping Russia rapidly expand its capacity to make key munitions like artillery rounds, they added.
The U.S. officials also said China is helping Russia improve its satellite and other space-based capabilities for use in Ukraine, increasing the Russian threat across Europe. And they said the United States has information China is providing imagery to Russia for its war on Ukraine.
(Reporting By Steve Holland and Susan Heavey; editing by Caitlin Webber)
((Steve.a.holland@thomsonreuters.com; 202 898 8300; Reuters Messaging: steve.holland.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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