China Responds to Possible US Sanctions for Helping Russia's Ukraine War

China blasted the "long-arm jurisdiction" of the U.S. in response to news Congress is weighing sanctions over alleged Chinese assistance to Russia.

"We follow an objective and impartial position on the Ukraine crisis and have worked actively to promote peace talks," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a press conference on Tuesday. "We have not sat idly by, still less exploited the situation for selfish gains."

China has been a lifeline to sanction-strapped Russia through its financial and trade flows since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Though Beijing denies supplying lethal weaponry, it's a suspected source of dual-use components Ukraine reported finding in Russian tools of war like Orlan-10 drones. The Biden administration has already sanctioned 16 Chinese firms, including state-owned ones, over their association with Russia.

Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian defense ministry via written request for comment.

Mao said China has the right to cooperate with other countries on a normal basis and rejected "unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that lack basis in international law or United Nations Security Council mandate."

"China will continue to do what is necessary to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies," she added.

Mao's remarks echo those of China's top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday at a security summit in Munich, Germany. He stressed that Beijing supports political solutions to "hot-spot issues," and "does not add fuel to the fire."

Secondary sanctions could bite particularly hard given China's mounting economic woes, Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly, who sits on the House of Representatives' Committee of Foreign Relations, told CNBC on the sidelines of the Munich conference.

"China has to understand that the same kinds of sanctions which are beginning to really take hold in Russia and are affecting Russian productivity, economic performance and quality of life can also be applied to China," Connolly said.

"And frankly, China has a lot more to lose than Russia."

The representative added that he hoped the mere threat of the sanctions, coupled with those reportedly being considered by the European Union, would "clarify some thinking in Beijing."

"China stands out as a crucial supplier of critical military drone components for Russia, responsible for a significant share of deliveries." Yurii Poita, head of the Kyiv-based Center for Army Conversion and Disarmament Studies' Asia-Pacific section, told Newsweek, citing an August 2023 report from the Higher School of Economics in Kyiv.

In fact, China was found to be the source of 67 percent of these components, including 17 percent routed through Hong Kong. For example, a major supplier of parts for Russia's Lancet drone manufacturer, OMP LLC, was able to import engines by Jiangxi Xintuo Enterprise Co., Hefei Huanxin Technology Development Co., and other Chinese firms, he said.

Meanwhile, a June 2023 report by the Yermak-McFaul International group found China was a conduit for as much as 80 percent of (mainly Western-produced) microchip exports used in Russian weapons, including rockets.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in January 2023 that the White House had been clear about "costs that would befall the PRC (China)" should it provide Russia with assistance that would benefit its war effort in Ukraine or help it dodge sanctions.

For the first time since Russia's invasion began, the EU is mulling sanctions on Chinese firms it suspects of helping the Kremlin evade Western economic punishment.

A CNBC report last week cited an official from the 27-nation bloc who said, on condition of anonymity, that the sanctions were on the agenda of meeting scheduled for February 14.

Update 2/23/24, 8:50 a.m. ET: This story was updated with a comment from Yurii Poita.