Ukraine war: US warns Chinese companies of sanctions if Beijing gives lethal aid to Russia
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken said if China provides lethal aid to Russia for the conflict, it will be a serious problem for Beijing in its relationship with other countries
- Blinken, who is touring Central Asia, also announced US$25 million in new economic assistance and pledged support for the sovereignty of the ex-Soviet republics
If China provides lethal aid to Moscow for the conflict, it will be a serious problem for Beijing in its relationship with countries around the world, Blinken told reporters during a trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Blinken’s visit to the capitals of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was his first to the region as the Biden administration’s top diplomat.
Leaders in the region have been emboldened to stand up to Moscow but have also been buffeted by the fallout from the war, including rising food and fuel prices, and come under suspicion as potential routes for sanctioned goods reaching Russia.
“We are watching compliance with sanctions very closely and we’re having an ongoing discussion with number of countries, including our C5 partners, on the economic spillover effects,” Blinken said at a news conference after a meeting with officials of the five Central Asian states in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Washington is issuing licenses to give companies time to wind down relationships with Russian firms that have been sanctioned in a Western effort to pressure Moscow to end the war, Blinken said.
He announced US$25 million of new funding to support economic growth, including with new trade routes, and helping business find new export markets, on top of US$25 million the Biden administration has already committed to the region.
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“We have built very good and reliable long-term partnerships in so many strategically important areas like security, energy, trade and investments,” Tokayev told Blinken as they met at the imposing presidential palace.
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Blinken earlier told Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi that Washington supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Kazakhstan, which won independence from Moscow when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
“Sometimes we just say those words, but they actually have real meaning and of course we know in this particular time they have even more resonance than usual,” Blinken said in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also an ex-Soviet republic.
Russia and Kazakhstan share the world’s longest continuous land border, prompting concern among some Kazakhs about the security of a country with the second-biggest ethnic Russian population among former Soviet republics after Ukraine.
Tileuberdi said at the news conference that Kazakhstan retained a “multi-vector” foreign policy that balances its ties to Russia with other nations. “We do not see or feel any risks or threats from the Russian Federation at the moment,” he said.
