China warns EU against sanctions on Chinese companies over no proof

The country will respond robustly to action on individuals without a strong proof.

China's top diplomat to the EU said that Beijing will respond strongly to any EU sanctions on Chinese institutions for alleged circumvention of EU sanctions on Russia without providing any solid evidence.

The head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, Fu Cong, said in an interview with the New Statesman on May 24, which was published on Sunday, at a time when the EU is weighing its 11th round of sanctions on Russia which will focus on tackling the issue of third countries circumventing existing sanctions.

News reports suggest that the names of eight Chinese companies are in an EU draft document for alleged circumvention of sanctions.

China has not provided any military equipment to Russia, and China has exercised extreme caution when it comes to dual-use items.

China maintains normal economic relations and cooperation with Russia at the same time. So these ordinary economic cooperation and activities should not be interfered with, and they should not be the reason for any coercive measures from any side, either from the US or the European side. China is against unilateral sanctions without the basis of international law or the authorization of the United Nations Security Council resolutions, said a career diplomat who assumed the position in December.

We are firmly opposed to the extraterritorial jurisdiction of all these measures, he said. The EU has frequently opposed extraterrestrial sanctions, contending that such sanctions are against international laws and are in violation of nations' sovereignty and independence. The EU created the Blocking Statute law in 1996 to make it difficult for EU nations to violate extraterritorial sanctions. It was protested against and resisted US sanctions on EU companies after Trump's administration abandoned the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 to reimpose sanctions.

The EU is copying what the US has been doing in recent years, he said, adding that it is in violation of the EU's own position against extraterritorial application of national sanctions.

China's deep concerns about such changes in the EU have been expressed, he said.

If the European side is able to impose sanctions on Chinese companies without providing us with any substantial evidence to show that these companies are engaged in activities that may circumvented or have circumvented EU sanctions on Russia, then we certainly will retaliate. He added that China wants to resolve the issue in an amicable way and that the EU should show evidence if it has any, adding that the EU should not apply any new law to business deals that were conducted before the law was made.

So that's why we say we need to talk about this. However, he said, we have approached the EU side and we have not been given any clear explanation.

One thing they did tell us was that they did not have solid evidence that those companies had re-exported the items they imported from the EU companies to Russia. If the EU goes ahead with the sanctions on Chinese companies despite China's efforts to resolve the issue in an amicable way, there will be strong responses from China, he said.

Frankly speaking, it will not be good for either side, and we do not want to see this happen. The EU has been discussing the 11th sanctions package since early May. Hungary and Greece have expressed their opposition to the package, citing Ukraine's listing of some of their private companies as international war sponsors.