The United States and the EU reiterated on Friday April 22 that any support from Beijing for Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions would damage their ties with China, which had called on the Europeans to dissociate themselves from Washington.
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During a meeting in Brussels, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, number two in American diplomacy, and the Secretary General of the European diplomatic service Stefano Sannino "
stressed that they would continue to urge China not to not to circumvent and not to undermine the sanctions against Russia
,” according to a joint statement.
They reaffirmed "
that such support would have consequences for their respective relations with China
".
They also expressed "
concerns about China's repeated manipulation of information, including spreading disinformation from Moscow
about the war in Ukraine.
Referring to Lithuania, victim of Chinese trade reprisals after the installation of a Taiwanese representation, the two diplomats expressed their "
opposition
" to any "
economic coercion
" exercised by Beijing.
The EU warned China
This joint statement comes at a time when in early April, during a summit with European leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the EU to "
form its own perception of China and to independently pursue its own policy on 'regard
' of Beijing.
In the eyes of Chinese officials, the Europeans have allowed themselves to be drawn into a conflict, at the initiative of Washington, contrary to their interests as consumers of Russian gas.
While Beijing refuses to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and defends its "
rock-solid
" friendship with Moscow, the EU warned China at this summit that any support for Russia, in particular by strongly inflating its hydrocarbon purchases, "
will tarnish
» its economic relations with Europe, its main trading partner.
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Washington goes further by raising the possibility of sanctions.
“
We have been very transparent
” in explaining to Beijing “
what we are doing (against Russia) in terms of sanctions, to give an idea of the menu we could choose from if China decides to provide material support
” to Moscow , said Wendy Sherman on Thursday in front of a think tank in Brussels.
"
I hope (China) can learn from realizing that you can't separate the United States from its allies and that Europe is not going to dissociate itself from the United States
," he said. she hammered.
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