U.S. Worries About Private Chinese Companies Aiding Russia, Blinken Says

BEIJING — While the United States has seen no sign that the Chinese government has decided to send lethal aid to Russia, it is worried that private Chinese companies will provide matériel and technology that Moscow’s military could use in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Monday.

“That is a concern,” Mr. Blinken told a news conference in Beijing after meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. He said he had raised the concern with Chinese officials and “urged them to be vigilant.”

Mr. Blinken said in February that China was considering sending lethal aid to Russia for its war in Ukraine. The Chinese government denied that it was considering such actions, but Mr. Blinken and other U.S. officials have repeated that assertion in recent months.

Mr. Blinken reiterated on Monday that the United States had not seen indications that Beijing had decided to provide such aid, saying: “We’ve not seen anything right now that would contradict that.”

His emphasis on private companies suggested that U.S. officials are moving away from their allegations about the Chinese government’s intentions. But Mr. Blinken did not elaborate publicly on the reasons for Washington’s concerns about Chinese companies.

Mr. Blinken also met with top Chinese foreign policy officials on Sunday and Monday. He said that he told Chinese officials that the United States welcomed Beijing’s efforts to promote a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine war, if those efforts resulted in a “just peace” based on the United Nations charter.

Mr. Blinken has said that a just peace means one that results in enduring security for Ukraine and does not leave Ukrainian territory in Russian hands.