BEIJING: China is “strongly dissatisfied” with and “firmly opposed” to new US sanctions on Chinese companies over their links to Russia's war in Ukraine, the commerce ministry said on Sunday.
“China urges the US to immediately stop its wrong practices and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” a ministry spokesperson said.
Washington on Friday imposed sweeping sanctions against nearly 400 individuals and companies it believes are aiding Russia's war in Ukraine, including several Chinese firms, expanding existing measures to curb Moscow's encroachment on its neighbor.
These include Chinese companies involved in shipping microelectronics and machine tools to Russia, according to a State Department fact sheet outlining its sanctions.
The sanctions target individuals and companies both inside and outside Russia “whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
China's Commerce Ministry said Sunday the move was a “typical unilateral sanction” that “disrupts the order and rules of international trade, hinders normal international economic and trade exchanges, and threatens the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.”
The United States has repeatedly warned China about its support for Russia's defense industry.
China, however, presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.
But China is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have called Beijing a “decisive facilitator” of the war, which it has never condemned.
