US Targets Chinese Banks Aiding Russian War Machine

The United States is preparing sanctions against some Chinese banks over concerns they have facilitated trade with Russia and helped fuel its war effort, The Wall Street Journal reported.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to China in hopes that the threat of financial sanctions will provide diplomatic leverage against Beijing as the U.S. seeks to stifle Russian’s ability to rebuild its military.

While China has not sold weapons to Russia directly, Beijing has greatly increased their exports of so called dual-use goods. Dual-use goods are materials such as circuitry, optics, microelectronics, drone engines and other products that could be used in the manufacturing of weapons. Moscow has sought to rebuild its war machine which has been greatly damaged in the two-year war with Ukraine. According to the Journal, China has supplied Russia with 90% of its microelectronic imports in 2023.

“China can’t have it both ways,” Blinken said. “It can’t purport to want to have positive friendly relations with countries in Europe, and at the same time be fueling the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said the exports in question were lawful trade and the U.S. was engaging in “groundless accusations.”

“China’s right to conduct normal trade and economic exchanges with Russia and other countries in the world on the basis of equality and mutual benefit should not be interfered with or disrupted,” the spokesperson told the Journal. “The United States should immediately stop imposing unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals.”

Meeting with her Chinese counterpart in Beijing earlier in April, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. was concerned about China’s role in aiding Russia’s military rearmament saying, “Any banks that facilitate significant transactions that channel military or dual-use goods to Russia’s defense industrial base expose themselves to the risk of U.S. sanctions.”