On Russian oil, China shuns US call to cap prices and urges dialogue in ‘very complicated’ issue

There had been no mention of an oil price cap in statements following high-level trade meeting between US and China, but the topic surfaced on Thursday

China and India are among the major buyers of Russian oil and have refrained from backing Western sanctions against Moscow

2-MIN READ2-MIN

China has acknowledged that global oil prices are of great concern among the international community, while also not backing Western calls to cap prices on Russian oil exports. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:15pm, 14 Jul 2022

China has refrained from supporting the United States’ call for a price cap on Russian oil while continuing to call for dialogue to address the “complicated issue”.

Thursday’s comments by the Ministry of Commerce came after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she had raised the possibility of setting a cap on the price of Russian oil during a virtual meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He last week.

Yellen said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the Chinese side had listened and was prepared to have further discussions with the US.

Without naming Russia, ministry spokeswoman Shu Jueting said on Thursday that the US side had “introduced its thoughts” on setting a price cap for oil “from a certain country”, in the talks last week.

“On the Chinese side, we think the issue is very complicated. The precondition of addressing the issue is that all related parties should strive to facilitate dialogues for peace, to promote cooling down rather than heating up the Ukraine crisis,” Shu said, adding that “this is in line with the interests of all sides”.

“Currently, global oil prices remain elevated, becoming one of the major factors in the high inflation globally and raising great concerns in the international community,” Shu said.

The US has been rallying support from countries to further restrict Moscow’s energy revenue via the oil price caps, in addition to existing or planned Western restrictions. This would also, Yellen said, allow more oil to reach the global market.