Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly turned to China with requests for economic support, but China is afraid of American sanctions and such conversations annoy it, says the newspaper Washington Post, citing two anonymous officials, American and Chinese.
The publication notes that the Kremlin was addressed several times for economic help to China, but each time they received a polite refusal. Sources indicate that in China, irritation is growing about the appeals of the Russian Federation. At the same time, at the diplomatic level, official Beijing continues to support Russia, calls sanctions in its regard to unjustified, imposes guilt for what happened on NATO, refrains in the UN Security Council when voting for the resolution opposed to Russia, in state media oriented as external, So on the internal audience, talks about the so -called “special operation” from pro -Russian positions, including unreasonable conspiracy theories about American biolaboratories in Ukraine. But further this, experts notice, Chinese support does not apply.
at least twice Russian diplomats asked China about new forms of economic support and indicated “trade obligations” adopted by China until February 24. These conversations proceeded tense, said the Chinese source of Washington Post.
“China clearly declared its position on the situation in Ukraine and illegal sanctions against Russia. We understand a difficult situation [Moscow]. But we cannot ignore our own position in this dialogue. China will always act in the best interests of the Chinese people “, – quotes Washington Post an informed source in Beijing.
Both Chinese and American sources say that the chairman of the PRC Xi Jinping set his assistants the task of finding ways to help Russia, but so as not to fall under American sanctions. It turned out that this is a difficult task. These goals contradict each other.
“For a long time, China and Russia supported normal cooperation in the areas of the economy, trade and energy. The problem is not who will help Russia to circumvent sanctions, but that normal trade and economic exchange between Russia and China suffered without need”, – told the newspaper Press-Attash of the Chinese embassy in Washington Liu Penyuy.