04/02/2022 08:23 (act 04/02/2022 08:23)
Brussels warned Beijing against supporting Russia on Friday ©APA/AFP
For the first time, the Chinese government has explicitly denied wanting to circumvent Western sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine. “We are intentionally not doing anything to circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia by the Americans and Europeans,” Wang Lutong, director-general of the European Affairs Department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a news conference on Saturday. However, he criticized the punitive measures.
“We are against sanctions, and the effects of those sanctions could spread to the rest of the world,” Wang said. He demanded that China’s normal trade with Moscow “not be affected”. For the benefit of the global economy, it should be a matter of “avoiding potential disruption in supply and industrial chains”.
At a virtual EU summit with China on Friday, representatives from Brussels warned Beijing against supporting Russia to circumvent Western sanctions. The leadership in Beijing has not yet condemned the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Externally, China offers itself as a neutral mediator, but state media largely follows the Russian line and is primarily critical of the US and NATO.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also called on Beijing to use its influence over Moscow to stop the war in Ukraine. Recently, Russia and China have repeatedly emphasized their close partnership. During a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to China on Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that “Sino-Russian cooperation” was “boundless”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Wang warned Saturday not to overestimate China’s role. “The key to this problem is not in China’s hands, but in Washington and Brussels.” It is about European security and “it is up to Europeans to sort things out”.