Yesterday, the
New York Times reported on U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials from the State Dept sharing intelligence with Chinese officials in the three months leading up to the Russian invasion. {
Go Deep on Analysis} The narrative from
the article tells the story of the U.S. trying to convince China in December, January and February to intervene and persuade Russia not to cross the border into Ukraine.
Many people have looked at this story from the perspective of
incompetence, i.e. why would the Biden team think China would not share the intel, etc.
However, when it comes to these types of issues,
never ascribe to incompetence that which can be explained by intent.
There’s every reason to believe what the Biden intelligence community and state department were sharing with China, was done with the intention of Beijing giving it to Moscow.
From that perspective, the question around intent becomes,
what did they push and
why did they push it?
