US’ Russia sanctions noted, but it won’t work on Beijing: Chinese observers

Name: China, Russia foreign ministers meet as countries stand ‘back to back’ amid rise in US tensions
Uploaded: 2021-04-24T23:00:14.000Z
Duration: 1 min 12 s
Description: China, Russia foreign ministers meet as countries stand ‘back to back’ amid rise in US tensions

Financial measures against Moscow could harm Russian economy but would be counterproductive if used against Beijing, academics say

Despite rivalry, US-China trade means financial sanctions ‘would also hurt Washington’

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Washington has taken aim at Russia with financial sanctions and expulsions of several of its diplomats. Photo: AFP

Amber Wang

Published: 7:00am, 25 Apr 2021Updated: 7:00am, 25 Apr 2021

China will have been put on alert by the US’ latest sanctions on Russia, but would be equipped to withstand the economic measures among them if they were used against Beijing, Chinese observers said.

Washington last week announced an array of sanctions including banning US banks and institutional investors from buying new Russian government rouble-denominated bonds at auction.

Ten Russian diplomats, most of them identified as intelligence operatives, were expelled from the Russian embassy in Washington, followed in the next few days by the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria also expelling Russian diplomats.

Some Chinese observers said the measures reminded them of the pressure China was facing from the US.

“This is another case in which the United States has assembled its allies to suppress Russia, a similar situation to what China is facing, including Poland joining the US to place restrictions on [Chinese telecoms maker] Huawei,” Li Ziguo, a senior research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies, said.

The US and its allies have imposed a series of sanctions on China over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and over its actions in Hong Kong, while there have been growing calls in Washington for the Biden administration to tighten technology restrictions on China. The European Union, Britain and Canada also last month imposed sanctions on China over Xinjiang.

The US and its allies besieging Russia offered a lesson for Beijing that China “must continue to grow its national strength and weaken the ability of the US to pressure it from a position of strength”, state media said.

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China, Russia foreign ministers meet as countries stand ‘back to back’ amid rise in US tensions