The EU will put pressure on Beijing to respond to reports that a Chinese company is producing military drones for use in Russia's war against Ukraine, Politico reported on Friday, citing a senior EU official, UNN reported.
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"We have received reports from intelligence sources about the existence of a factory in China that produces drones that are supplied to Russia," the EU official said.
The official said that the EU should determine whether Beijing knew about the firm's activities and whether the production of drones was "direct cooperation in the field of military equipment between China and Russia.
"If we finally confirm that there is a transfer of drones [from China to Russia], it will have consequences," the official added, declining to explain what those consequences might be.
The comments, which come more than a month after Reuters first reported on the drone factory, hint at a tougher stance toward China following Donald Trump's re-election as US president, the publication notes.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky called on EU countries to support Trump's policy toward China.
"Chinese drone production is set to top the agenda when European foreign ministers meet in Brussels next week," the three diplomats said.
"Obviously, we will have to look very carefully to see if China is moving away from its position of neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict, which it has publicly taken until now," said one EU diplomat.
Beijing claims that it is "not a party" to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Although EU officials and diplomats have not clarified what actions might be taken, one option under consideration is to add more Chinese companies to the list of third-country firms subject to EU sanctions, according to a second EU diplomat.
The EU has previously imposed sanctions on Iran for producing weapons for Russia, but not on China, the newspaper said. A senior EU official said that Brussels would follow the same procedure for China as for Iran.
Asked what the EU needs to find out before taking further action, the official said that the bloc is trying to determine whether the plant's products were targeted at Russia, whether drones were supplied to Russia, and whether Chinese authorities were aware of the firm's activities.
The official added that "it's hard to believe that this was done without anyone's knowledge.