US President Joe Biden’s warning about the consequences of any Chinese aid to Russia over the war in Ukraine could force Chinese President Xi Jinping to choose between a longstanding trade relationship with the West and a strategic partnership with Moscow.
Beijing’s stakes are high given trade flows. The White House confirmed the possibility of imposing sanctions on China after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a nearly two-hour video conversation, Reuters reported.
Despite growing trade ties with Southeast Asia and declining economic dependence on trade in recent years, China’s economic interests are closely tied to Western democracies, trade data shows.
Analysts say defecting to political ally Russia doesn’t make much economic sense for China, as the United States and the European Union (EU) consume more than a third of China’s exports.
“If China has to choose Russia or everyone else, from an economic point of view, China is integrated with all Western economies, and it would make no sense,” said Chad Bone, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Analytical center for trade with China.
Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang stressed China’s close relationship with Russia.
“China has normal trade, economic, financial and energy cooperation with Russia,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation when asked if Beijing would provide financial support to Moscow.
“These are normal relations between two sovereign states based on international law, including the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO),” the diplomat added.