FACTOR OF MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION IN UKRAINE-CHINA RELATIONS

Abstract

Conclusions. In the period before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, a significant component of bilateral economic contacts was the export of military equipment and weapons by Ukraine to China, which at the same time was the largest importer of domestic military-industrial complex products. Nevertheless, in the conditions of a full-scale war, the importance of military-technical cooperation in Ukraine-China relations not only did not decrease, but also increased significantly, becoming an important factor in the course of the war with the Kremlin. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to analyze the changing nature and role of MTC between Ukraine and China, especially in the conditions of a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.

Methods. In the process of research, the author relied on the principle of objectivity. Along with this, analytical, historical, statistical, generalizing methods, as well as the case method were used.

Results. The study demonstrates the distinquisition of two fundamentally different periods in the field of MTC between Ukraine and China: pre-war and since the full-scale invasion. After the declaration of independence and until 2022, Ukraine was one of the sources of military equipment and technologies, sometimes extremely critical for China in its aspirations to become a world military superpower. For the Ukrainian MIC, the export of products to China was of great importance due to the lack of significant domestic orders, and China took advantage of this due to the urgent need for alternatives to Western and Russian arms supplies. After the full-scale Russian invasion, the situation became diametrically opposite: Ukraine began to actively purchase Chinese drones and components for them. Meanwhile, Russia became an even more active importer of Chinese dual-use products. Against the background of systematic monitoring and preventive threats of sanctions from Western countries, the PRC officially restricted its exports, but in fact the Kremlin continues to import everything it needs from China on a large scale, but Ukraine has suffered significantly from this. This approach on the part of the PRC became one of the factors that led to Ukraine starting to lose in the so-called "drone war" with the RF.

Conclusions. China gained access to Ukrainian military technology in the pre-war period. However, against the backdrop of a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, Beijing is clearly supporting the further expansion of the Russian MIC with dual-use products. This leads to a constant official dialogue between Ukraine and the PRC in a negative direction.

China is interested in prolonging the Russian-Ukrainian war in order to use it as a tool in its efforts to establish control over Taiwan. A significant threat to Ukraine would be a hypothetical situation of direct arms supplies from China to Russia. In any case, there is an urgent need for the Ukrainian MIC to localize the production of drones and their components.