Why China Won’t Help Russia Around Sanctions
- Date: 09-Mar-2022
- Source: Asharq AL-awsat
- Sector:Economy
- Country:Middle East
Why China Won’t Help Russia Around Sanctions
International and Arab News
China is the wild card. President Xi Jinping has vowed that the friendship between China and Russia has “no limits,” and he certainly has the tools to help soften the blow of unprecedented sanctions imposed by the US and European Union on Vladimir Putin’s wartime economy.
Beijing could buy some of Russia’s $130 billion horde of gold held by the Russian central bank and pay for it in US dollars. It could reactivate a currency swap line, which was established after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and serve as the lender of the last resort. It could also step up trade with Russia, buying more oil, natural gas, wheat and fertilizers. Even better, China could buy stakes in Russian energy and commodities companies — although such deliberations are at an early stage, according to Bloomberg News. Plus, China has a long history of working around US sanctions. In the past, it has used small, systemically unimportant banks to do business with Iran.
But provoking leaders of its two dominant markets is the last thing China needs right now. With its property industry slumping and small businesses suffocating from a strict zero Covid policy, resilient international sales are perhaps
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