After American authorities claimed that the US might impose sanctions on Chinese banks for facilitating transactions involving shipments to the Russian defense business, China has pledged to take the necessary steps to protect its rights.  ,
At the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on July 19th, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the US is preparing a fresh round of sanctions against Chinese companies that provided dual-use goods to Russia’s war system in Ukraine.
Sullivan claimed that Beijing had seen its problem that some Chinese banks are facilitating unfavorable transactions as a result of its investigation. However, he added that” the image is not really” as China continues to be a major distributor of dual-use objects to Russia’s combat system.
According to him,” There are targeted ways in which they are flexible, but the overall image continues to go in the wrong way,” adding that extra punishment methods can be expected in the coming months.
He claimed that as a result of the US’s efforts to take action if necessary, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had authorized Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to impose sanctions on international businesses.  ,
At the same time, US State Secretary Antony Blinken claimed that China is providing the sources for Russia’s defense-industrial center.  ,
” Seventy percent of the system resources that Russia is importing are from China. According to Blinken, 90 percent of the optoelectronics are produced in China. ” And that’s going into the security commercial base and turning into rockets, vehicles, and other arms.”
” China ca n’t have it both ways”, he said. When it contributes to Russia’s ongoing pursuit of peace in Ukraine, it ca n’t simultaneously be said to be saying that. When it is actually contributing to the greatest threat to Europe’s security since the end of the Cold War, it ca n’t claim that it wants better relations with Europe.
On July 11, NATO officials said in a mutual charter that China is a “decisive facilitator” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.  ,
” Sinister motives”
” Both China and Russia are independent big places”, Mao Ning, a director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a press briefing on Monday. China and Russia “have a normal cooperation that does n’t discriminate against any third parties and should n’t turn into a target for external coercion or interference.”
She stated that China will take all necessary steps to protect its reasonable rights and interests and that it strongly rejects all types of unlawful unilateral sanctions and long-arm authority.  ,
China has stated repeatedly that Russia and China did not form an alliance and that Sino-Russian participation is not intended for any third parties. But did NATO talk? Absolutely not”, a Hebei-based military writer using the pseudonym” Xingchen” says in an article on Monday.  ,
He claims that according to statistics, 72 % of Russian weapon parts came from the US, while 60 % of them were imported from the West.  ,
” Based on NATO’s logic, are western countries including the US supporting Russia”? he says. China has been accused of cooperating with Russia by NATO numerous times. Its sinister purposes are visible”.
He adds that NATO, which offered US$ 43 billion of military aid to Ukraine periodically, is the true culprit that is shaking international peace and stability.  ,
In a report released in June 2023, the KSE Institute, a think tank at the Kyiv School of Economics, reported that American companies produced 66 % of the foreign-critical components found in the Ukrainian military’s weapons systems between March and December 2022. According to Newsweek, the majority of these items were shipped via China to Russia.  ,  ,  ,
Another Chinese critic claims that the Biden administration needs to take a strong stance against China now that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has gained popularity since being injured in an execution test on July 13.  ,  ,
By smearing China-Russia assistance, Blinken claims that he wants to strengthen his bargaining position when he meets with Taiwanese minister Wang Yi at the ASEAN ministerial conference in Laos this year.
On July 8, Gonzalo Saiz, a scientist at the Center for Finance and Security of the Royal United Services Institute, a United Kingdom-based think tank, told TheBanker.com that some small Chinese lenders operate as “burner businesses” as they can be shut down if they are sanctioned by the US according to Russian trades.  ,  ,
Hera Smith, director and training guide for economic crime adherence, Moody’s Analytics, said big Chinese banks may experience difficulty if they unintentionally process dangerous transactions for smaller banks.  ,
US pressure
In 2023, China’s exports to Russia grew 46.9 % to US$ 111 billion from a year earlier, according to China Customs. The figure increased only 1.5 % year-on-year to US$ 24.4 billion in the first quarter of this year and fell 3.4 % year-on-year to US$ 27.2 billion in the second quarter.  ,
The changing trend is thought to be a result of the US’s growing efforts to stop China from sending dual-use items to Russia.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated in a visit to Beijing on April 8 that the US had the authority to impose sanctions on Chinese financial institutions if they were involved in shipments that increased Russia’s military might.  ,
Four more Chinese banks recently stopped accepting payments from Russia, according to a report in the Russian newspaper Izvestia on April 12 after three of the world’s largest Chinese banks did the same in February. A US official told Reuters on April 22 that the country did not have an immediate plan to impose sanctions on Chinese banks.
On June 12, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) revised the definition of” Russia’s military-industrial base” stated in an executive order previously-issued by the US President.  ,
After the amendment, foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions or offer any services involving Russia’s military-industrial base could face sanctions from OFAC.
Read: China hawk: Fix symbolic, ineffective US sanctions
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