China-Russia drone factory in Kashgar has become a diplomatic bone of contention between China and the West

Currently, reports that China is supplying armed drones to Russia and is helping Russia in the war against Ukraine remain one of the most sensitive diplomatic friction points between China and the European Union.

This issue was one of the main topics discussed at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, November 18. However, amid the diplomatic row between the EU and China over the supply of armed drones to the Russian military, China has teamed up with two Russian subsidiaries of the Russian state-owned defense industry company, the Shenzhen-based Red Rabbit. The Shenzhen Victor Industrial Co., Ltd., is launching an economic development project in Kashgar (the ancient capital of East Turkistan, which China has occupied since 1949 and calls “Xinjiang”), building an “advanced drone research and production base” in the region, and producing and supplying an armed drone called the “Harpy-3” to the Russian military.

It is not known what factors were taken into account when China and Russia jointly established a cooperation project that would have a diplomatic "price,” such as producing armed drones in a place like Kashgar, which is considered a “genocide zone” and a stronghold of the Uighur forced labor base, but it is known that this cooperation project is more sensitive. The EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on November 18 did not announce what measures they would take against China, but the foreign ministers reportedly warned that China would face “retaliation” if it was proven that it had supplied armed drones to Russia.

At the meeting, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib was among the officials who raised serious concerns about the role of countries like China in the war in Ukraine.

The Belgian Foreign Ministry made a special statement to our correspondent on November 20, saying that the foreign ministers’ meeting discussed the measures to be taken in this regard. “The European Union and Belgium are deeply concerned by reports of China’s support for Russia’s military operations,” Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman David Jordens said in a written statement. For the first time, the Foreign Affairs Committee meeting discussed what action to take in this regard. “China’s support for Russia in this war of aggression is an issue that we will raise and discuss in our bilateral relations,” he added.

Foreign Ministry spokesman David Jordens concluded that China’s arms supplies to Russia “will not shake their determination to support Ukraine against aggression as long as necessary.” Earlier, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz said he had discussed the issue of armed drones with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting in Brazil. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting that helping China with drones would be “very expensive.”

However, experts say that if the EU decides to punish China, it may be limited to symbolic measures. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine poses a great danger to Europe and the EU,” said Xia Ming, a professor of political science at the Staten Island Institute of the City University of New York. “Of course, their small and powerless influence over China makes them look weaker in China’s eyes. So European countries may take some symbolic actions to appease themselves.” Xia Ming believes that if the new US administration reaches a compromise with Russia, and the US, China and Russia form a “three-horse carriage situation,” European countries will be even more powerless.

Xia Ming stresses that the EU will only exist as a “moral force” in this situation, but not as a geopolitical force to block China. “I think in this situation, the EU will exist as a ‘moral force,’ but geopolitically, it is not trying to be a force to block China,” Xia Ming said.

In a report published by Reuters in September this year, Kupol IEMZ, a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned Almaz-Antey Arms, and Shenzhen-based Red Rabbit Vector Industry, a "research and production base for unmanned aerial vehicles", were established. Russia is developing an armed drone called the "Harpy-3", and emphasized its potential use in "special military operations" in Ukraine.

This cooperation between China and Russia draws attention to the "Kashgar Economic Development Zone". It turns out that the construction of the "Kashgar Economic Development Zone" was decided upon at the first "Xinjiang Working Conference" held in 2010. At that time, the development of the "Kashgar Economic Development Zone", which covered an area of ​​​​50 square kilometers, accelerated after China's large-scale detention campaign of Uyghurs in 2017, and companies with workers moved to this place.