China and North Korea aid to Russia poses security risk in Indo-Pacific region, says top US commander | US military

The top US commander in the Pacific has warned senators that the military support that China and North Korea are giving Russia in its war on Ukraine is a security risk in his region as Moscow provides critical military assistance to both in return.

Adm Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate armed services committee that China has provided 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the legacy chips to Russia to help Moscow “rebuild its war machine”.

In exchange, he said, China is potentially getting help in technologies to make its submarines move more quietly, along with other assistance.

Senators pressed Paparo and Gen Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, on China’s advances in the region, including threats to Taiwan. They also questioned both on the US military presence in South Korea, and whether it should be shielded from personnel cuts.

Both said the current US forces there and across the Indo-Pacific region are critical for both diplomacy in the region and US national security, as ties between Russia and China grow. The US has 28,500 military personnel in South Korea.

Paparo said North Korea is sending “thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of artillery shells” and thousands of short-range missiles to Russia. The expectation, he said, is that Pyongyang will receive air-defense and surface-to-air missile support.

“It’s a transactional symbiosis where each state fulfills the other state’s weakness to mutual benefit of each state,” Paparo said.

Brunson said North Korea has shown the ability to send munitions and troops to Russia while advancing development of its own military capabilities, including hypersonic weapons. Pyongyang, he said, “boasts a Russian-equipped, augmented, modernized military force of over 1.3 million personnel”.

North Korea’s efforts to develop advanced nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles “pose a direct threat to our homeland and our allies”, Paparo added.

North Korea also has sent thousands of soldiers to fight with the Russians against Ukraine. And the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Wednesday that Russia is actively recruiting Chinese citizens to fight alongside its forces in the Ukraine war. He said more than 150 such mercenaries are already active in the battle with Beijing’s knowledge.

China has called the accusation “irresponsible”.