By : Vlad Green
As China positions itself for a future confrontation over Taiwan, it has simultaneously become Russia’s indispensable lifeline. Since the start of the Ukraine war, Beijing has provided Moscow with everything it needs to stay afloat: dual-use electronics feeding Russia’s weapons production, critical components for drones and missiles, massive purchases of Russian oil and gas, and financial channels that help the Kremlin bypass Western sanctions. China keeps Putin’s war machine supplied; Putin rewards China with cheap resources and a powerful geopolitical foothold against the West.
But the most alarming development is occurring not in Beijing or Moscow, but in Europe itself. While China’s exports to the United States have dropped sharply, China’s exports to Europe have surged. In other words, Europe publicly condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — yet quietly fuels the economy of the very country enabling Russia to wage that war.
This is not a misunderstanding.
This is not a coincidence.
This is hypocrisy.
Europe cannot continue to lecture others about defending democracy while deepening its economic dependence on China, the same partner sustaining Putin’s aggression. The logic is impossible to ignore:
Europe buys more from China → China bankrolls Russia → Russia bombs Ukraine.
How can European leaders claim moral clarity while strengthening the country helping Russia evade sanctions? How can they demand that the United States remain firmly committed to Ukraine if Europe itself is contributing to the very system sustaining Russia’s war effort?
Europe’s hesitation is not strategy. It is self-inflicted weakness. And it sends exactly the wrong signal — to Moscow, to Beijing, and to every democracy watching whether the West still has the will to defend its values.
The stakes could not be higher. A weakened Ukraine means a strengthened Russia. A strengthened Russia means a bolder China. And a bolder China means greater instability in every corner of the democratic world, from Europe to the Indo-Pacific.
Europe must decide what it stands for — not in speeches, but in trade flows and policies that actually matter. If Europe truly supports Ukraine and the principles it claims to defend, then it must stop bankrolling China at a moment when China is bankrolling Russia.
It is time for Europe to make up its mind — and to end this dangerous hypocrisy once and for all.