On Monday, the State Department announced that the US was imposing visa restrictions on Chinese officials for alleged “repressive acts” against China’s ethnic and religious minorities.
The State Department didn’t name the Chinese officials or say how many were being targeted with the sanctions.
The visa restrictions come as the US is complaining about Beijing’s relationship with Moscow. Over the past few years, Russia and China have grown closer together as they face similar pressure from the West.
Amid the fighting in Ukraine and the US-led sanction campaign against Russia, Biden administration officials have warned China of “consequences” if it helps Russia skirt sanctions or provides support for the war in Ukraine.
China has been very clear that it has no plans to support Russia militarily in any way, and Chinese officials have repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution. Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed Beijing’s position in a call with President Biden last week.
Xi said the top priorities in the conflict should be to “continue dialogue and negotiations, avoid civilian casualties, prevent a humanitarian crisis, cease fighting and end the war as soon as possible.”
While Beijing doesn’t have plans to back the war, the Chinese market will provide Russia with a place to sell its oil as it is facing bans from the US and possibly Europe. In early February, China and Russia announced oil and gas deals worth about $117.5 billion. More US sanctions and pressure from the West will only cause this trade relationship to continue to grow.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!! Let sovereign countries decide their own policies, even if they keep to international law that you refuse to accept! Stop the threats and remember you are one nation out of nearly 200, not the boss .
Happy happy happyyyy. This means the Chinese means to carry on as usual with regards to Russia. Antiwar.com needs to cover rt, they have brilliant clear eyed analysis by a Russian analyst that should’ve been featured here.
I noticed that China imposed export restrictions last October on phosphate, a critical component of a commonly used fertilizer. They say they need to ensure that there is enough available for their own use.
Now that Ukraine’s wheat exports are gone, and Biden’s sanctions have taken Russian fertilizer off the market, and Biden’s chastisement of Russia has driven up the cost of natural gas (a key input for making nitrogen based fertilizer), farmers all across the world are finding that the cost of growing crops has risen. In some countries, they have been forced to stop using commercial fertilizer. Yet US farmers are actually afraid to increase wheat production because of market conditions.
Trump was taught a similar lesson in the soybean market, and, after his attack on Huawei Telecom, I wonder if their hand is present
in the semiconductor chip shortage as well. (The loss of Ukraine’s neon exports, critical for semiconductor production, isn’t going to help with that shortage.)
People who kick the Panda these days are begging for trouble.
I know, the gas component of the fertilizers and how it will affect food supplies makes me worry. Restrictions on wheat because of the war is deeply worrisome but fertilizer issues affect all food grain. Thanks for the input
“Now that Ukraine’s wheat exports are gone”
There may be an interruption, but it probably won’t be a lengthy one. About 95% of Ukrainian wheat is “winter wheat.” It was planted last fall and will be harvest in late summer, by which time the war will almost certainly be over one way or the other.
I don’t recall any concerns about human rights abuses when US businesses were building factories in China so they could use some of that slave labor.
Wasn’t it just a few months ago that people were complaining that Trump was making unprecedented decisions about trade and war without Congressional authorization? Isn’t is strange how most of them have gone silent now that the shoe is on the other foot?