Beijing
\nBeijing has responded to reports that Washington is planning to impose \u201cbroad\u201d sanctions on the country, vowing to defend Chinese businesses from measures intended to target firms for allegedly helping Russia.
\nThe proposed sanctions were discussed on Monday by CNBC, which interviewed a number of Congress members about the plans. Democrat Gerald Connolly, who sits on the House Committee on Foreign Relations, claimed \u201cthe very threat\u201d of sanctions from the US and potentially the EU \u201cought to clarify some thinking in Beijing.\u201d
\nHowever, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday that Beijing rejects unilateral economic restrictions as a matter of principle and will defend the interests of its businesses.
\n\u201dChina has the right to conduct normal cooperation with countries around the world,\u201d Mao said during a daily briefing. \u201cWe have always opposed unilateral sanctions and \u2018long-arm jurisdiction\u2019 that have no basis in international law and are not authorized by the UN Security Council.\u201d
\nShe dismissed Washington\u2019s suggestion that Chinese businesses were helping Russia with its military operation against Ukraine. Beijing has been impartial on the conflict and has been promoting a peaceful resolution, Mao said.
\n\u201dWe have not watched from afar, let alone taken advantage\u201d of the situation, she added.
\nThe US previously targeted specific Chinese firms and individuals, which it accused of providing assistance for Moscow\u2019s military campaign in various ways. The new round of sanctions will reportedly be the first to directly hit the government in Beijing.
\n\u201cIf broad sanctions were applied to China, it would really hit home,\u201d Connolly told CNBC. He claimed that \u201cChina has a lot more to lose than Russia\u201d from such restrictions.
\nRussia became the world\u2019s most sanctioned nation when the US and its allies ramped up pressure on Moscow in relation to the Ukraine crisis. Contrary to Western predictions, the measures have failed to ruin the Russian economy.
\nChinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the issue of unilateral restrictions and the risks of possible Western disengagement from China with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last week, his department said.
\nThe minister emphasized that the attempts to \u201cbuild \u2018a small yard with high fences\u2019 to \u2018decouple from China\u2019 will ultimately backfire on the US itself,\u201d it stated. Wang urged his American counterpart to \u201clift its illegal unilateral sanctions\u201d on Chinese firms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing Beijing has responded to reports that Washington is planning to impose \u201cbroad\u201d sanctions on the country, vowing to defend Chinese businesses from measures intended to target firms for allegedly helping Russia. The proposed sanctions were discussed on Monday by CNBC, which interviewed a number of Congress members about the plans. Democrat Gerald Connolly, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-388479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n