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China delivering ‘kind of military equipment’ to Russia: French diplomat

French President Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic advisor said China was delivering items to Russia that could be used as military equipment that in turn could be used in its war in Ukraine.

Published: 22 July 2023 13:38 CEST

French President Emmanuel Macron (L), and his diplomatic advisor Emmanuel Bonne (R), take part in an online meeting with G7 leaders and Ukraine's President at the Elysee palace in Paris, on February 24th, 2023. Photo by: Christophe PETIT TESSON / POOL / AFP

“There are indications that they are doing things we would prefer them not to do,” said Emmanuel Bonne during a rare public address Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, which is being broadcast.

When asked what he was referring to, he said it was the delivery of “kind of military equipment”.

“As far as we know, they are not delivering massively military capacities to Russia,” he added.

A French diplomatic source told AFP that the advisor referred to the “possible deliveries of dual-use technologies”, both civilian and military.

The West has urged Beijing not to deliver arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

While they have regularly said there is no evidence to that effect, they are concerned about the possibility of Chinese firms delivering technology that could be used by Russians on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Claiming to be neutral in the conflict, China has called for respect for sovereign states, including Ukraine, but has never publicly condemned the military operation carried out in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“At the point where we are, when the counteroffensive is beginning in the field, when everything is complicated… what we need most is Chinese abstention” from arms deliveries, Bonne said.

“I’d like China to demonstrate that it is a credible partner” in the conflict in Ukraine, he said, stressing that “I don’t have the evidence yet.”

On the diplomatic front, “I don’t believe a second that China will provide a solution for the war in Ukraine,” he said.

“For the war to stop we only need Putin to withdraw and Ukraine to basically beat the Russians in the ground.”

It will then be necessary to establish “a very solid kind of negotiation framework” including a wide range of partners such as China and India, “who can have an influence and can guarantee a solid peace,” Bonne said.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.