Banking regulator says China will not join Russia sanctions

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Banking and Insurance Supervisory Authority said on Wednesday that the country opposes and will not join financial sanctions against Russia.

“Everyone is watching the recent military conflict, or war, between Russia and Ukraine,” Guo Shuqing, head of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said in a Mandarin press conference, according to a CNBC translation. “China’s position has been clearly stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Our international policies are consistent.”

“In terms of financial sanctions, we do not support that,” Guo said, referring to particular opposition to “unilateral” sanctions, which he said do not effectively address problems. “China will not join such sanctions.”

Guo is also the CPC secretary of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank. On Wednesday, he added that he hoped all parties could maintain normal economic exchanges and that the sanctions had not had an obvious impact on China so far.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has refused to describe Russia’s attack on Ukraine as an invasion. Beijing’s line was to promote negotiationsChina is trying to distance itself from Russia further than was portrayed in early February during a high-level meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The The United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union Strive to slap Sanctions on RussiaFirst, in an effort to prevent conflict with Ukraine, and then to pressure Putin to stop his invasion of Ukraine.