EU to press China over drones for Russia, warns of ‘consequences’

The EU will press Beijing for answers over reports that a China-based company is producing military drones for use in Russia’s war against Ukraine, a senior EU official said Friday.

“We have had reports from intelligence sources on the existence of a factory inside China producing drones which are shipped to Russia,” said the senior EU official, granted anonymity to speak on the sensitive matter.

The official said that the EU has to determine whether Beijing knew about the firm’s activities and whether the production of drones amounted to “direct cooperation on military equipment between China and Russia.”

“If we finally confirm there is a transfer of drones [from China to Russia], then that will have consequences,” added the official, who declined to spell out what those consequences could be.

The comments, which come more than a month after Reuters first reported on the drone factory, hint at a hardening stance toward China in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election as U.S. president.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský urged fellow EU countries to rally behind Trump’s policy toward China.

Difficult to believe

Chinese drone production is due to top the agenda when European foreign ministers gather in Brussels next week, said three diplomats, also granted anonymity to speak on the sensitive matter.

“We’ll obviously have to look very closely to see if China is moving away from its position of neutrality on the Ukraine conflict, which it has held publicly until now,” said one EU diplomat.

Beijing maintains that it is “not a party” to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

While EU officials and diplomats didn’t spell out what action could be taken, one option being examined is adding more Chinese companies to a list of third-country firms facing EU sanctions, according to a second EU diplomat.

The EU has previously sanctioned Iran for producing weapons for Russia, but not China. The senior EU official said that Brussels would follow the same process for China as it did for Iran.

Asked what the EU needed to find out before taking further action, the official said the bloc was trying to determine whether the factory’s production was geared for Russia, whether drones were shipped to Russia and whether Chinese authorities were aware of the firm’s activities.

The official added that it was “difficult to believe that this was done without knowledge.”

Koen Verhelst and Giovanna Faggionato contributed to this report.