Psaki says some of the biggest countries like China, India, Brazil and Mexico are not part of America’s economic warfare against Russia, but that does not undermine the efforts of the Biden administration against Moscow, reports Asian Lite News
The Biden administration is working to build a global coalition far beyond G7 and NATO partners, the White House has said.
Some of the biggest countries like China, India, Brazil and Mexico are not part of America’s economic warfare against Russia, but that does not undermine the efforts of the Biden administration against Moscow, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
“Not just China, but some of the biggest countries in the world like India or Brazil, some countries in Latin America like Mexico, they are not part of this economic warfare against Russia. Is this something that undermines the effort from the White House and European countries? “I would say it doesn’t undermine our efforts. We have been working to build a global coalition far beyond the G7 and our NATO partners, and had a great deal of success in that. And every country has to decide where they want to stand, where they want to be as we look and the history books are written,” Psaki said during her daily news conference.
“As we have seen, the impact of the president’s leadership on the global stage and the economic consequences that have been put into place have led Russia and the Russian economy to be on the brink of collapse. And there’s no question that over time, that will have an impact,” she said in response to a question.
China is unlikely to be very helpful to Russia during these economic sanctions, Psaki said.
“I think what we are looking at here, one is if China were to decide to be an economic provider or to take additional steps there to Russia, they only make up 15 to 20 per cent of the world’s economy. The G7 countries make up more than 50 per cent. So, there are a range of tools at our disposal and coordination with our European partners should we need to use them,” she said.
But this is an area that the United States is watching closely, Psaki said, asserting that there would be consequences for China if it provides military supply to Russia.
At the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, its spokesperson Ned Price said the US was watching very closely the extent to which China or any country in the world provides materials, economic, financial, rhetorical or otherwise, to this war of choice that Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging against Ukraine and its people.
“And we have been very clear, both privately and publicly, with Beijing that there would be consequences for any such support,” Price told reporters.
“Russia and China, when you combine their GDPs, it’s something like 25 per cent of global GDP. When you combine the GDP, the economic might of the United States, the European Union, our allies in the Indo-Pacific, our other allies and partners that have joined us, well over 50 per cent,” he said.
“So, there is not a country out there that would be able to fully extricate Moscow from this. The only thing that could relieve the pressure, that could extricate, in a meaningful way, Moscow from the morass it has created for itself, is for Putin to change course, to de-escalate and to end the violence,” Price said.
US ‘bluntly’ warns China
President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser warned a top Chinese official on Monday (local time) about Beijing’s support for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, even as the Kremlin denied reports stating that it had requested Chinese military equipment to use in the war.
Adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi met in Rome earlier today. Sullivan held an “intense” seven-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart and laid out potential consequences of Beijing assisting Russia in the war in Ukraine.
“The national security adviser and our delegation raised directly and very clear our concerns about the PRC’s support to Russia in the wake of the invasion, and the implications that any such support would have for the PRC’s relationship not only with us but for its relationships around the world,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price, using the initials for the People’s Republic of China.
“We are watching very closely the extent to which China or any other country provides any form of support, whether that’s material, economic or financial support to Russia, any such support from anywhere in the world would be of great concern to us,” added the spokesperson.
In advance of the talks, Sullivan bluntly warned China to avoid helping Russia evade punishment from global sanctions that have hammered the Russian economy. “We will not allow that to go forward,” Price said.
Russia, however, on Monday (local time) denied it needed China’s help. President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports Russia had asked China for military assistance were not true.
“Russia possesses its own independent potential to continue the operation. As we said, it is going according to plan and will be completed on time and in full,” he said.
Russia has asked China for military support and China had signaled willingness to provide military assistance to Russia., including drones, as well as economic assistance for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, according to US officials.
Potential assistance from the Chinese would be a significant development in Russia’s invasion. It could upend the hold Ukrainian forces still have in the country as well as provide a counterweight to the harsh sanctions imposed on Russia’s economy.
The Chinese foreign ministry accused the US of spreading disinformation. Russia denied asking Beijing for military help. In response, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Beijing, Zhao Lijian, said the US had “been spreading disinformation targeting China on the Ukraine issue, with malicious intentions”.
Russia expanded its offensive to western Ukraine on Sunday, firing missiles near the city of Lviv and hitting a large military base close to the Polish border, reportedly killing dozens of people and drawing the war closer to the borders of a NATO country.
The attack came the day after the Kremlin threatened to attack Western weapons shipments to Ukraine.