China will take retaliatory measures if the European Union (EU) imposes restrictions on Chinese companies for allegedly helping Russia circumvent Western sanctions, Beijing’s head of diplomacy warned Tuesday in Berlin.
“China and Russian companies have a normal, cooperative relationship. This type of normal cooperation should not be affected” by possible European sanctions, Qin Gang warned during a press conference with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock.
The European Commission presented an eleventh package of restrictive measures against Russia to EU member states on Friday to prevent sanctions from being circumvented.
“The aim is to prevent goods whose export to Russia is prohibited from entering the Russian military complex,” Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Monday.
The Commission’s proposal targets, for the first time, eight Chinese and Hong Kong companies accused of re-exporting sensitive goods to Russia, according to a document cited by the French agency AFP.
“China will make the necessary response to firmly protect the legitimate interests of Chinese companies,” Qin warned in Berlin.
Qin Gang also warned of the high costs for Europe of a “new cold war” and called for German collaboration to guarantee world economic stability in the face of the confrontation that he said is being encouraged by the United States.
“If the new cold war comes true, it will not only cost China, but also Europe,” Qin was quoted as saying by the Spanish news agency EFE.
Baerbock urged China to take a clear position on the conflict in Ukraine, saying that neutrality was the same as siding with Russia.
“Neutrality means being on the side of the aggressor,” the German minister said.
“China can, if it so chooses, play an important role… in ending the war,” he added.
China presents itself as a neutral partner in the conflict, despite its close relations with Moscow.
At the end of April, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, had a telephone conversation, the first since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Qin said in Berlin that China would “send a special representative for European affairs to Ukraine shortly.”
“He will also visit other European countries,” he said, assuring that China “continues to defend the negotiations” between Moscow and kyiv.
Germany is the first stop on the Chinese minister’s trip to Europe this week, which includes France and Norway.
The new package of sanctions against Russia will begin to be discussed by the ambassadors of the 27 member states in Brussels on Wednesday.
The EU has imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the aggressive war launched against Ukraine some 15 months ago and the illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
The sanctions are added to the measures imposed on Russia since 2014, after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the non-application of the Minsk agreements on the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, supported by Moscow.
Source: TSF
