It was certainly not in the Sherpa’s plans that the two most powerful presidents in the world, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, would return to talk to each other due to the variable Vladimir Putin. It is the war that awakens diplomacy, but the game of crossed vetoes is not in the plans of a China afflicted by the reflections of the Ukrainian conflict and, at home, by the devastating resurgence of the pandemic. Having remained neutral in the face of the invasion of a sovereign state by an almost indiscriminately sanctioned Russia, China has for some time been committed to elaborating countermeasures to the sanctions that rained on its head, calling them “the same medicine administered to us by foreigners” .
The bitter morsels to swallow
From the advent of Donald Trump onwards, the Chinese path has been studded with bitter morsels to swallow so Beijing has dedicated itself to the creation of an organic system, a “toolbox”, as the legislators define it, to be able to trim down the attacks arriving from abroad.
Meanwhile, in January 2021, the “blocking statute” regulation adopted along the lines of the European one and aimed against the unjustified extraterritorial application of foreign laws to defend against retaliation by other world powers. Then, the law that provides for a wide spectrum of definitive measures (except for rare possible revisions) ranging from the entry ban to the cancellation of visas or the expulsion and freezing of deposits, shares, bonds, fund shares and other assets of the country foreigner who has directly or indirectly violated – it is the latter adverb that creates much more anxiety – the interests and security of the Chinese state.
The launch during the G7
Issued in full G7, in force since 10 June 2021, the law follows exactly the list of sanctions inflicted on Moscow by the West: blocking mobility in travel and Russian airspace, freezing of personal assets of Russian citizens abroad but also of the reserves in rubles held by central banks, certainly the most painful measure for Vladimir Putin, the one that is truly paralyzing Russia.
But Beijing, which has remained out of the fray, is not applying these sanctions to its Russian friend with whom it is linked by a “more solid than rock” friendship, if anything, it is supporting its crumbling economy by buying energy, wheat and raw materials in yuan. , offering Russians the ability to use the Chinese payment platform Cips. Because, as long as Russia is able to import goods and services, the default, at least until then, is averted.