conflict, it would be an absolute game-changer. right now ukrainians and russians are scouring the world for extra munitions as they use up more and more ammunition against each other, and realizing that the president and his top diplomat are aware of intelligence that says that the chinese are now considering whether or not they should enter the battle in terms of providing lethal support. and so that s why secretary blinken had a very serious discussion with wang lee, the top chinese diplomat in munich. that s why he said if you start providing lethal aid, it ooh going to have very serious consequences. president biden gave the consequences. we said, what are you talking about? blinken said he wasn t going to
what else would you describe as lethal assistance that wasn t weapons? again, i ll let the information that we have and that we re sharing speak for itself, but the main concern is materiel support to russia s war effort that would have a lethal effect. the material support, i understand you want to let it speak for itself, but can you give me a little bit more? that is a huge charge. we re at another level of escalation here if our two biggest rivals are now in cahoots in a war essentially against the west. chuck, what i want to stress is this. we see china considering this. we ve not seen them cross that line, so i think it s important that we make clear as i did this evening in my meeting with wang lee, that this is something that is of deep concern to us, and i made clear the importance of not crossing that line and the fact that it would have serious consequences in our own relationship, something that we do not need on top of the balloon incident of china s engagement.
so there seems little signs of that kind of diplomacy working out. i will say wang lee will arrive in moscow to a city still economically you can see the traffic, despied the plunging traffic, sidewalks covered in snow, there are people out and about. it s a city that is still economically surviving. there are predictions that russia s economy will grow, only by a small amount, but will grow this year. russia is a big country. moscow is not the only story. that s an aspect of all of this that president putin will get confidence from as he tries to wait out the west, if you like. keir simmons and richard engel, thank you both. meanwhile, another potential headache on the world stage. north korea appears to have launched two more short range ballistic missiles. this marks the second weapons test in three days.
and what kamala harris told me when i asked her about that is that they are increasingly concerned, something she mentioned in her speech, about china s growing connection and embrace of russia. she warned in her speech that china should not supply weapons to russia. that that would be underscoring and embracing the russian aggression. but andrea when you speech about let me ask you, wang lee being there, saying oh, no we don t want to cold war, yes he s calling the american shootdown of these spy balloons hysterical, sure, but the fact that he will not take a conversation doesn t take a phone call, the military doesn t take phone calls. how much are you concerned that we could be at least going towards being on the brink of a cold war? i don t think so i think there s a real determination,
ah, hello, i m sorry, i m noisy. welcome to the news. our lie from london coming up, america s secretary of state, hold talks with china s top diplomat weeks of detention sword over an alleged chinese spine balloon in u. s. s. base. and there is no doubt. these are crimes against humanity. the u. s. levels, it s most serious accusation yet against russia. nearly a year since the invasion of ukraine. tens of thousands of dead millions homeless turkish of quite survivors bury their loved ones after last week s disaster. authorities in serious loss, rebels stronghold are accused of blocking aid access. in sport also gone back to the top of the english premier league and own go by will cut when goalkeeper. emmy morrison is the turning point in a fall to win against austin the ah welcome to the program. talk. american and chinese diplomats have been holding direct talks, weeks after tension, sort of a chinese balloon that entered us as space. the secretary of state anthony blinkin