US warns Chinese banks over Russian shipments

China has vowed to take necessary measures to safeguard its rights after American officials said the United States may sanction Chinese banks for facilitating transactions related to shipments to the Russian defense sector.

The US is preparing a new round of sanctions against Chinese entities that supplied dual-use items to Russia’s war machine in Ukraine, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on July 19.

Sullivan said the US side had seen Beijing respond to its concern that some Chinese banks are facilitating problematic transactions. However, he added that “the picture is not pretty” as China continues to be a major supplier of dual-use items to Russia’s war machine.

“There are targeted ways in which they are responsive, but the larger picture continues to travel in the wrong direction,” he said, adding that people can expect to see additional sanctions measures in the coming weeks.

He said US President Joe Biden had authorized Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to sanction foreign banks while such a measure was put in place so that the US can take action if needed.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken said at the same event that China is providing the inputs for Russia’s defense industrial base.

“Seventy percent of the machine tools that Russia is importing come from China. Ninety percent of the microelectronics come from China,” Blinken said. “And that’s going into the defense industrial base and turning into missiles and tanks and other weapons.”

“China can’t have it both ways,” he said. “It can’t all at once be saying that it’s for peace in Ukraine when it is helping to fuel the ongoing pursuit of the war by Russia. It can’t say that it wants better relations with