BEIJING: China’s support for Russia through oil and gas purchases is troubling Washington and increasing the risk of US retaliation, foreign observers say, though they see no sign that Beijing should allow Moscow to attack Ukraine. You should be allowed to take your stand. Helping to escape sanctions on war.
Beijing’s importance as a lifeline for Russian President Vladimir Putin rose on Monday after the 27-nation European Union, the main market for the fossil fuel that supplies most of Moscow’s foreign income, stopped buying oil. gives. agree with.
President Xi Jinping’s government announced before Russia’s February 24 attack that it had “no borders” friendship with Moscow and kept the West speculating whether it could bail out Putin.
China dismissed the sanctions as illegal because the United States, Europe and Japan cut Russia from their markets and the global banking system, where Beijing and Moscow have veto power, without working through the United Nations.
The sanctions do not prevent China, India or other countries from buying Russian oil and gas. But President Joe Biden has warned Xi of unspecified consequences if Beijing helps Moscow evade sanctions. This leaves open the risk that Chinese companies could be penalized for losing access to valuable Western markets.
Beijing appears to comply. But state-owned companies are buying more Russian oil and gas, bringing export proceeds to the Kremlin. They are also potential investors in Russian energy projects as Western companies leave.
“China’s continued support for Russia will only further upset the Biden administration,” Neil Thomas of the Eurasia Group said in an email.
This raises the possibility of “unilateral steps to punish Beijing” and “allied coordination on economic safeguards aimed at countering China,” Thomas said.
Conflicts with Washington over Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, trade, technology and Beijing’s strategic ambitions escalate tensions.
Chinese Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said in a May 26 speech that it was “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order”.
Xi’s government has tried to distance itself from Putin’s war by calling for peace talks, but it refrains from criticizing Moscow.
Other governments should “in no way harm China’s legitimate interests” in dealing with Ukraine, warned Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
Monday’s decision by EU leaders will cut Russian oil imports by 90 percent, according to the head of its executive branch, Ursula von der Leyen. European customers are paying Russia $1 billion a day for oil, gas and coal.
Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations Mikhail Ulyanov in Vienna replied on Twitter: “Russia will find other importers.”
Moscow is small as a trading partner for Beijing, but an ally against both in the form of US dominance in global affairs.
China sees Russian oil and gas as a way to diversify supplies for its energy-hungry economy. According to the International Energy Agency, China bought 20 percent of last year’s Russian crude exports. The two sides announced a new 30-year gas contract on February 4, three weeks before Moscow’s attack on Ukraine that state newspaper Global Times said would increase annual supplies to China by about 25 percent.
Maria Shagina of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the two are friendly, with China taking advantage of the situation to get cheaper energy and favorable trade deals.
“They will always take advantage of Russia’s isolation,” Shagina said. “But they will be very careful not to outright violate the restrictions.”
On May 24, while Biden was visiting Tokyo, Russian and Chinese warplanes conducted “strategic air patrols” over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific. The Japanese government said the attackers flew near Japan.
Biden warned Xi not to provide military or financial aid to Moscow during a March 18 video meeting.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in March that Washington would not tolerate China or any other country for helping Moscow work around sanctions. The White House has criticized Beijing’s “rhetorical support” for Putin.
The US embassy said in a written response to questions that Washington was “monitoring” Chinese dealings with Moscow.
“We have not seen the provision of military equipment,” it said. Asked about economic sanctions and possible breaches, the embassy said it had nothing more.
After BP and ExxonMobil announced they were pulling out of Russian oil and gas projects, “rumours that state-owned Chinese companies may step in and acquire a stake,” Shagina said.
China’s imports from Russia rose 56.6 percent to $8.9 billion in April from a year earlier, according to customs data. That helped Putin’s government to record a current account surplus, the trade’s biggest measure, at $96 billion for the four months ending in April.
Washington is also disappointed that India, the world’s No. 3 importer, is buying more than Russia to take advantage of lower prices. The Biden administration is lobbying to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
In March, the US government told Asian and European allies that US intelligence had determined that China had signaled Russia to provide logistical support for operations in Ukraine and financial assistance to limit the impact of sanctions. would be willing to do.
Russia has been expelled from the global SWIFT network for bank transfers.
China’s credit card processor, UnionPay, declined to work with Russian banks after Visa and MasterCard stopped serving them, as Russian news outlet RBC reported in April. It said UnionPay worries it may be vulnerable to “secondary sanctions” and cut off from the Western-controlled global financial system.
China gave Moscow an economic lifeline after Western sanctions over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Beijing agreed to buy Russian gas in a deal estimated at up to $400 billion over three decades. Moscow turned to Chinese state-owned companies to help pay for oil and gas development after sanctions related to Crimea cut Western funding.
“Help will never come for free,” Shagina said.