The West pressures China to stop supporting Russia

China is under intense diplomatic pressure from both Europe and the United States to stop supporting Russia and its economy, hit by countless sanctions since the Ukraine invasion.

Western countries have imposed several salvos of sanctions in recent weeks that could even lead Russia to default on its debt, according to the financial ratings agency Fitch.

The sanctions range from the freezing of assets to the prohibition of exporting certain products to Russia, through measures to paralyze the banking sector or the closure of European airspace to companies.

But Beijing is currently reluctant to stop supporting its ally.

The Russian government, isolated and struggling against the fall of its currency, would have asked China for economic and military help, according to the American newspaper New York Times, which cites anonymous officials. China seems to have responded positively to the demand, at least in part.

But it is difficult for Beijing to find the balance between its friendship with Russia and its desire to avoid international opprobrium and even to be subject to Western sanctions in turn.

The United States on Monday described as “deeply worrying” what it described as “alignment” between Beijing and Moscow, after a meeting in Rome between Jake Sullivan, American national security adviser, and Yang Jiechi, top diplomatic official of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ).

Since the start of the invasion, China has refused to openly condemn the military operation, calling its friendship with Russia “rock solid” last week.

Weapons for Russia?

“China is thinking of its own interests, and that’s all,” says Alexander Gabuev, a specialist in Sino-Russian relations at the Carnegie Moscow Center in Moscow.

“A weaker Russia is probably a Russia that will serve its interests better, because it will have more influence over it,” says the expert.

At the moment China is trying to appear as a neutral power, calling for “restraint” and negotiation between Russia and Ukraine, while criticizing NATO’s expansion.

US media, citing unnamed officials, say Beijing is willing to support the Russian economy and even provide weapons and logistical support to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops in Ukraine.

AFP was unable to verify these claims.

European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in line with other Western countries, said he had asked Beijing to exert its “considerable influence” on Moscow to secure a ceasefire.

An appeal apparently without much effect.

In China, the state media picked up some of the Kremlin’s arguments, such as that Ukraine was using civilians as “human shields” and that the United States was funding military biological programs in Ukraine.

“The Chinese position is not so much pro-Russian as it is anti-American,” says Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Moscow Center.

The invasion of Ukraine, which came three weeks after Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing for the Olympic Games, could damage the Sino-Russian friendship described as “unlimited” during the Kremlin leader’s visit.

“The longer and more violent the conflict, the more complicated the situation for China will be,” predicts Ni Lexiong, a professor at the Shanghai Institute of National Defense Strategy.