‘China, NKorea, Russia cooperation ups threats’

Department of Research, Studies and International News 11-04-2025

The top United States commander in the Pacific warned senators on Thursday that the military support China and North Korea were giving Russia in its war on Ukraine was creating a security risk in his assigned region as Moscow provided critical army assistance to both in return.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China had provided 70 percent of the machine tools and 90 percent of the legacy chips to help Russia “rebuild its war machine.”

In exchange, he said, China is potentially getting help in technologies to make its submarines move more quietly, along with other assistance.

Senators pressed Paparo and Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea, on China’s advances in the region, including threats to Taiwan. They also asked the commanders about the US’ military presence in South Korea, and whether it should be shielded from personnel cuts.

Both said the current US force there and across the Indo-Pacific was critical for both diplomacy in the region and America’s national security, as ties between Russia and China grow. The US has 28,500 forces in South Korea.

Paparo said North Korea was sending “thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of artillery shells” and hundreds of short-range missiles to Russia, with the expectation that Pyongyang would get air defense and surface-to-air missile support.

“It’s a transactional symbiosis where each state fulfills the other state’s weakness to mutual benefit of each state,” the commander said.

In his opening comments, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who heads the panel, said the greater alignment of Russia, China and North Korea “should be of great concern to all in the West.”

“This concern should then lead to action. If we are to maintain global peace and stability, we must continue taking steps now to rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence,” he said.

Brunson said North Korea had shown the ability to send munitions and troops to Russia while advancing development of its own military capabilities, including hypersonics. Pyongyang, he said, “boasts [of] a Russian-equipped, augmented, modernized military force of over 1.3 million personnel.”

North Korea’s efforts to develop advanced nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles “pose a direct threat to our homeland and our allies,” Paparo said.

The North also has sent thousands of soldiers to fight with the Russians against Ukraine. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Russia was actively recruiting Chinese citizens to fight alongside its forces in the war. More than 150 such mercenaries are already active in the battle with Beijing’s knowledge, he added.

China has called Zelenskyy’s claim “irresponsible.”

In other comments, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said observers feared that President Donald Trump would “shrink the US troop presence in Korea and Japan, reduce our military exercises with both nations, and scale back plans for our Joint Force Headquarters in Japan.” Any such actions, he added, will sow “seeds of doubt” about America’s stability and trustworthiness.

He also questioned whether recent moves by the Pentagon to shift an aircraft carrier and Patriot missile battalion from the Pacific region to the Middle East have hurt military readiness in the Indo-Pacific command.

Paparo said he owed the defense chief and the president “constant vigilance” on that matter, including a persistent awareness on whether those forces could get back to the Pacific if there is suddenly a “higher priority threat” in his region.