China on Thursday defended its purchases of Russian oil as “legitimate” and called US President Donald Trump’s pressure to stop buying it an attempt at “intimidation.”
“China carries out normal and legitimate economic, trade and energy cooperation with countries around the world, including Russia,” a foreign affairs spokesman, Lin Jian, told reporters, reacting to the US president’s comments on Wednesday.
Donald Trump said he had received a promise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India would stop buying Russian oil, under the impact of punitive US tariffs.
“Now I have to convince China to do the same,” he added.
“The US actions are a typical example of unilateral intimidation and economic coercion, which seriously undermine international economic and trade rules and threaten the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains,” the Chinese spokesperson said at a daily news briefing.
Source: BFM TV
