US says China ties won’t stop Russian economic ‘catastrophe’ after any Ukraine invasion
- The warning comes after Chinese state media publishes Putin’s pledge that Beijing and Moscow would resist Western sanctions pressure
- The US says it has an array of tools it can deploy if foreign companies, including those in China, try to evade export control actions over Ukraine
The US government warned Moscow on Thursday that closer economic ties with China would not offset consequences of sanctions that would be triggered by a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking about the difficulties Russia would face if the country was prevented from trade with the West, US State Department spokesman Ned Price also said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last week about the implications of a Russian against Ukraine.
“We have an array of tools that we can deploy if we see foreign companies, including those in China, doing their best to backfill US export control actions, to evade them, to get around them,” Price said in Washington, without specifying what measures would be used.
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Russian envoy calls for US to stop ‘megaphone diplomacy’ over Ukraine
“If you deny yourself the ability to transact with the West, ... you are going to significantly degrade your productive capacity and your innovative potential,” the spokesman said, adding that dependency on China in such a scenario “is a recipe for catastrophe for the Russian economy”.
The two leaders are expected to meet on Friday to sign a joint statement reflecting their “common views” on security.