US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington is, as he said, “fully prepared” to impose sanctions against China’s support for the Russian defense industry. As Voice of America correspondent William Gallo reports, Mr. Blinken’s comments were made after the meeting he had today in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
US-China relations may have stabilized, but there is no shortage of disagreements that need to be addressed, as was revealed after the meeting held on Friday between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For Mr. Blinken, the top priority is stopping Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I told Mr. Xi, if China doesn’t address this problem, we will,” Mr. Blinken said.
The United States does not accuse China of directly supplying Russia with weapons.
US officials say China is sending equipment, including microprocessors and other equipment, used to make Russian weapons.
Secretary Blinken said Washington could adopt sanctions to stop this cooperation. But analysts say that could be complicated.
“The devices in question can hardly be controlled. They can be exported using seemingly perfectly legitimate excuses with legitimate business partners,” Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore told VOA.
An opportunity that Washington can use to prevent this cooperation is the exclusion of large Chinese banks from the American financial system.
“This I think would have a devastating impact on US-China trade. It may be possible to target smaller banks that have a more direct interest in Russia,” says Mr Chong.
China defends its trade with Russia, saying it is only engaged in normal economic exchanges. Few expect China to make big moves in response to the threat of sanctions from the United States.
The pressure is on for the Communist Party to act, but I don’t think the Communist Party intends or has any motive to be tougher on Russia,” Ian Chong from the National University of Singapore told VOA.
President Xi said the United States should not take punitive measures against China’s economy.
“As China-US dialogue continues to grow, managing differences and promoting cooperation is not only an aspiration of our two peoples, but something the rest of the world looks forward to. The world is big, there is room for the development of both the USA and China,” he said.
Talks also focused on other issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea as well as human rights and opioid production. But the issue of Beijing’s support for Moscow’s defense industry could further damage US-China relations that have just begun to stabilize.
