EU agrees to blacklist Chinese firms for first time in latest Russian sanctions package
- Three mainland businesses and one from Hong Kong will be sanctioned after Hungary agreed not to veto the measure
- Last year China convinced Europe to remove companies from a blacklist after providing assurances that exports would be stopped
As part of this, three mainland Chinese entities and one registered in Hong Kong will be barred from doing business with European counterparts. They stand accused of helping Russian buyers access goods with dual military and civilian uses that were made in Europe, but banned from being exported to Russia by the EU.
A diplomat familiar with the discussions said “Hungary had requested more time” last week.
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The diplomat continued: “In the past days, we had received clear signs from Hungary that they would not oppose the sanctions’ package. Coreper [the ambassadors’ group that passed the measures] approved the package very quickly, without discussion, except one statement from Hungary.”
Lawyers will now prepare a text for final adoption before February 24, the second anniversary of the start of the war.
The three mainland Chinese companies are Guangzhou Ausay Technology Co Limited, Shenzhen Biguang Trading Co Limited, Yilufa Electronics Limited. The Hong Kong company is RG Solutions Limited.
They are part of a group of 193 named entities on the latest round of sanctions, including firms from Turkey, Kazakhstan, North Korea and India, bringing the total number blacklisted to almost 2,000.
“I welcome the agreement on our 13th sanctions package against Russia. We must keep degrading [Vladimir] Putin’s war machine,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
For China, it marks the end of a long quest to prevent its companies from being blacklisted over the Ukraine war.
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Last summer, officials removed five Chinese entities from a previous sanctions package after intense lobbying from diplomats in Europe and assurances the firms would stop supplying Russia.
EU leaders directly raised the names of 13 other Chinese entities they said were providing Moscow with sanctioned goods with President Xi Jinping during a summit in Beijing in December.
The Chinese mission to the EU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview last June, after the Chinese companies had been removed from the list, Beijing’s ambassador to the EU Fu Cong said “we’re glad that the Chinese companies have been removed from the list, and it shows that dialogue can work”.
The European Commission last year introduced a nuclear option that would allow the bloc to target countries as a whole, rather than individual entities, should there be persistent flouting of sanctions.
However with EU unity on Ukraine fraying at the seams, particularly on sanctions, it appears unlikely that the unanimity required to adopt such a measure will be reached.
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While Hungary did not block the latest package, its officials have made clear that they disagree with it.
“There is no reason to veto it,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after a meeting with his ministerial counterparts on Monday evening, but he added that “the EU is making the wrong decision”.
