The EU is planning to impose sanctions on two Chinese banks for their alleged involvement with Russia, but there may be other purposes behind this move!

On June 12th, during a regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Bloomberg reporter asked if reports were true that the EU would impose sanctions on two small Chinese banks because they allegedly facilitated Russia in bypassing the existing EU trade restrictions.

What is China's comment on this?

Spokesperson Lin Jian responded by stating that China consistently opposes unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction" without legal basis and not authorized by the UN Security Council.

Lin Jian also emphasized that most countries, including Europe and America, are conducting trade with Russia. Normal interactions and cooperation between Russian and Chinese enterprises comply with WTO rules and market principles, do not target third parties, and should not be disrupted or influenced.

It needs to be noted that in his response, Lin Jian deliberately mentioned that relevant European and American countries are also trading with Russia. This is essentially a request for the EU not to show double standards on this issue.

In fact, even they themselves are trading with Russia while criticizing normal cooperation between China and Russia. This is clearly an unreasonable and domineering act.

Of course, what is truly worth paying attention to is why the EU chose to suddenly announce at this particular time that it would impose sanctions on two small Chinese banks? Is it really believed that this method could harm Russia?

Clearly, this action by the EU targeting Chinese companies cannot hinder normal trade between China and Russia, nor will it have much impact on Russia.

Furthermore, it cannot use this as leverage to pressure China into exerting pressure on Russia.

On the contrary, this move by the EU might affect Sino-European relations, adding more uncertainties to current trade negotiations between China and Europe.

In other words, the EU's actions will not only fail to influence Sino-Russian cooperation but may also affect Sino-European relations, ultimately harming its own interests.

Given this, why does the EU still proceed with this action?

From a practical standpoint, one reason for the EU's actions is to target Russia;

and another reason is likely to intentionally target China, using the so-called "Russia issue" as an excuse to send a warning to China.

In short, recently, while China and the U.S. are negotiating economic and trade issues, China and Europe are also pushing to resolve their trade disputes.

Although both sides' high-level officials emphasize that consensus has been reached on resolving certain issues, the lack of specific results indicates that negotiations between China and Europe are still in the process of negotiation.

At this moment, the EU suddenly announced its intention to impose sanctions on Chinese companies under the pretext of the "Russia issue." It is essentially trying to emulate the Trump administration by creating some false leverage to blackmail China, thereby gaining more initiative in the negotiation process.

Meanwhile, according to the latest report from the Lianhe Zaobao, the German Machinery Manufacturing Association issued a warning, claiming that the increasingly severe rare earth supply problem has impacted Germany's manufacturing industry and urged the EU to increase pressure on China regarding this issue.

This is essentially demanding that the EU pressure China to quickly provide rare earth products.

From this perspective, the EU's announcement about its plan to impose sanctions on two small Chinese banks is likely intended to pressure China to yield on this issue.

However, it is beyond doubt that China remains firm in its stance.

Through this operation, we can see that rare earth resources have indeed become a major vulnerability for the West; it seems that China's control over rare earth resources is highly effective.

Moreover, since China controls the lifeline of rare earth production, it shows that the EU needs China. As the saying goes, "When under someone else's roof, one must bow." Under such circumstances, their arrogance is either due to ignorance or self-inflicted trouble.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7515325136543810067/

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