Three Chinese companies accused of funnelling European military hardware to Russia were slapped with sanctions by the EU on Wednesday, June 21st. This is the first time Beijing has been directly hit by sanctions related to the Ukraine war.
The decision by a meeting of European ambassadors has been taken as a small diplomatic victory for China after Brussels scaled back initial plans to sanction eight Chinese companies accused of helping the Russian army in Ukraine.
The South China Morning Post described that the Chinese representative to the EU, Fu Cong, had negotiated the deal to reduce the number of sanctioned Chinese companies as a test of good faith regarding China’s future actions in the war. Chinese officials had complained that the EU had not provided sufficient evidence to justify the sanctions.
Fu Cong in an interview this week noted the disunity among EU nations saying that it appeared from China’s perspective that certain member states were being dragged along into antagonism towards China against their will. The Chinese companies primarily specialise in microchip technology, and experts warn that Europe is losing an arms race to control the global supply of semiconductors. read more