BEIJING: China’s banking and insurance regulator on Wednesday refused to join the West in sanctioning the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine as Russia’s largest bank withdrew from Europe after facing a run on deposits.
China, which has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has repeatedly criticised what it calls illegal and unilateral sanctions.
“As far as financial sanctions are concerned, we do not approve of these, especially the unilaterally launched sanctions because they do not work well and have no legal grounds,” Guo Shuqing, chairperson of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, told a news conference.
The chairperson further said, “We will not participate in such sanctions. We will continue to maintain normal economic and trade exchanges with relevant parties.”
“The impact from the sanctions on China’s economy and financial sector is so far not too significant,” Guo added. “Overall they will not have much impact on China even in the future,” Guo said, citing the resilience of China’s economy and financial sector.
China and Russia have grown increasingly close in recent years, including as trading partners. Total trade between the two jumped 35.9 per cent last year to a record $146.9 billion, according to Chinese customs data, with Russia serving as a major source of oil, gas, coal and agriculture commodities, running a trade surplus with China.
The U.S., U.K. and European Union have scrambled to slap sanctions on Russia, first in an attempt to prevent conflict with Ukraine, and subsequently to pressure Putin to halt his invasion of Ukraine.
