On the eve of a high-level U.S. delegation meeting with Chinese officials, the U.S. National Security Advisor has warned China of severe consequences if it helps Russia evade sanctions over its actions in Ukraine.
The U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his team are to meet with Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s chief diplomat and his team in Rome on Monday. At the meeting the two sides “will discuss ongoing efforts to manage the competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security”, National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said on Sunday in a statement.
Mr Sullivan has said while appearing on a Sunday talk show that the White House was watching closely to see whether China will provide material or economic support to Russia to help it evade the impacts of sanctions.
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The United States and her allies has been imposing sanctions on Russia since it admitted Crimea into the Russia Federation in 2014, following a coup in Ukraine. The sanctions were ratcheted up following Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine 18 days ago.
“It is a concern of ours, and we have communicated to Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” he said on CNN’s show State of the Union.
While claiming that he did not wish to brandish threats against China, Mr. Sullivan went ahead to do just that in his follow up statement;
“we are communicating directly, privately to Beijing that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions-evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them.
“We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country, anywhere in the world,” added Sullivan.
Beijing has declined to directly condemn Moscow for launching its invasion, and has repeatedly blamed Nato’s “eastward expansion” for worsening tensions between Russia and Ukraine, echoing the Kremlin’s prime security grievance.
Beijing said this past week that its friendship with Russia remains “rock solid” despite international condemnation of Moscow, and has expressed an openness to help mediate an end to the war.
During Putin’s visit to China last month, the two leaders issued a 5,000-word statement declaring “no limits” in the friendship between the two countries.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Sunday that Russia is banking on China’s help to withstand the crippling economic sanctions placed by Western nations over the war in Ukraine as the United States warned Beijing not to provide that lifeline.
The Minister said sanctions had deprived Moscow of access to $300bn of its $640bn in gold and foreign exchange reserves, and added that there was pressure on Beijing to shut off more.
We have part of our gold and foreign exchange reserves in the Chinese currency, in yuan. And we see what pressure is being exerted by Western countries on China in order to limit mutual trade with China. Of course, there is pressure to limit access to those reserves,” he said on Sunday.
“But I think that our partnership with China will still allow us to maintain the cooperation that we have achieved, and not only maintain, but also increase it in an environment where Western markets are closing.”
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
