The US will warn China of penalties if it aids Russia at the Rome meeting, according to a report
The US will warn China of penalties if it aids Russia at the Rome meeting, according to a report
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According to US officials, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday and will emphasize the economic penalties Beijing will face if it assists Russia in its war in Ukraine.
According to one US official, Sullivan will warn China of the global isolation it may face if it continues to support Russia.

In recent weeks, officials from the United States and other countries have tried to make it clear to China that siding with Russia could have ramifications for trade flows, the development of new technologies, and expose it to secondary sanctions.

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Chinese companies that defy US export restrictions to Russia may be denied access to American equipment and software needed to manufacture their products, according to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo last week.

It will be Sullivan’s first known meeting with Yang since closed-door talks in Zurich in October to defuse tensions following an acrimonious public exchange between the two in Alaska a year ago.

China is the world’s leading producer, the European Union’s largest trading partner, and the United States’ top international supplier of goods, and any pressure on Chinese trade could have repercussions for the US and its allies.

On Sunday, US officials told Reuters that Russia had asked China for military equipment following its invasion, raising concerns within the Biden administration that Beijing could undermine Western efforts to aid Ukraine by assisting Moscow in strengthening its military.

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Sullivan told on Sunday that Washington was keeping a close eye on how far Beijing went in providing economic or material support to Russia.

“We are communicating directly and privately to Beijing that there will be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion initiatives or help to Russia to backfill them,” he said.

“We will not allow that to happen, and we will not allow any country, anywhere in the world, to provide a lifeline to Russia through economic sanctions.”
Ties between the two countries, which were already at an all-time low, plummeted further last month when leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin announced an upgraded “no limits” strategic alliance just weeks before the Ukraine invasion.
Beijing, a key trading partner of Russia, has refused to label Moscow’s actions as an invasion, though Xi did call for “maximum restraint” and expressed concern about the impact of Western sanctions on the global economy last week, amid growing evidence that they limit China’s ability to buy Russian oil.

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Washington and its allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, including a ban on energy imports, while also providing billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.