Brussels Attacks Chinese Companies Helping Russia Avoid Sanctions
EU leaders will demand that Chinese President Xi Jinping “clamp down” 13 large Chinese companies that develop cooperation with Russia in many important industries
The European Union will put to the test the strategic partnership between China and Russia. During the official visit to Beijing scheduled for December 7 and 8, senior European Union leaders, including European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and High Representative, Foreign Policy and Security Minister Josep Borrell, will personally ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene into the operation of 13 largest Chinese companies accused by Brussels of “circumventing international sanctions against Russia.”
As the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post wrote, even before the EU trio’s visit to Beijing, the EU used threatening tones, indicating that “President Xi Jinping’s reaction will be decisive for future EU restrictive decisions against 13 Chinese companies (specifics unknown) that risk being publicly identified and suffering from the next round of sanctions against Russia.”
The European Union, which is about to approve the 12th package of anti-Russian measures, admitted that sanctions actually have little or no effect, since “many countries of the world ignore the calls of the West and continue to develop political, economic, and trade cooperation with Russia,” which has managed to successfully redirect its exports, primarily oil and liquefied natural gas, to China, India, and other Asian and Latin American markets.
According to sources cited by the Hong Kong newspaper, it was France and Germany that asked to speak directly with the Chinese leader. Dozens of companies from these two European countries were forced to close their businesses in Russia with corresponding losses amounting to many billions of euros, and the positions left vacant by Western entrepreneurs were immediately filled by Chinese competitors. As an example, Chinese automakers currently control about 55% of the Russian car market, while in January 2022, a month before the outbreak of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, their share was less than 10 percent.