China can't do much to help Russia's sanction-hit economy10 Mar 2022 18:53
"There is not yet any indication that China sees aiding Russia as worth violating Western sanctions," said Neil Thomas, a China analyst at Eurasia Group, adding that a "flagrant" defiance of those sanctions would come with a "heavy economic punishment" for Beijing as well.
"Beijing's much-touted lifting of import restrictions on Russian wheat was agreed before the invasion and does not indicate Chinese support," he said.
While Russia needs China for trade, Beijing has other priorities. The world's second largest economy is Russia's No. 1 trading partner, accounting for 16% of the value of its foreign trade, according to CNN Business' calculations based on 2020 figures from the World Trade Organization and Chinese customs data.
But for China, Russia matters a lot less: Trade between the two countries made up just 2% of China's total trade volume. The European Union and the United States have much larger shares.
Chinese banks and companies also fear secondary sanctions if they deal with Russian counterparts.
"Most Chinese banks cannot afford to lose access to US dollars and many Chinese industries cannot afford to lose access to US technology," said Thomas.
According to Singleton, these Chinese entities "could very quickly find themselves subject to increased Western scrutiny if they are perceived in any meaningful way as aiding Russian attempts to evade U.S.-led sanctions."
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/03/economy/china-cant-help-russia-sanctions-fallout-intl-hnk/index.html
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