Yellen Threatens Sanctions on Chinese Banks In Business with Russia

(NewsWorthy.news) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told Beijing that China’s banks could face U.S. sanctions if they facilitate support for the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

At a press conference at the end of her visit to the country, she stressed the White House’s concerns that firms in China are providing material support for Russia’s war. Yellen threatened that there will be severe consequences if companies in the PRC are found to have provided such support to the Kremlin, stressing that any banks facilitating significant transfers of military or dual-purpose goods to Russian forces could face U.S. sanctions.

China has already been criticized for exporting a significant amount of military equipment to Russia to boost the Kremlin’s arsenal. The shipments include large numbers of nonlethal but militarily beneficial equipment as well as dual-use technology that can be used by both civilians and the army. Russia imported $100 million-worth of drones from China in 2023, 30 times the amount imported by Ukraine.

In April 2023 leaked Pentagon documents revealed that Beijing was planning to supply the Kremlin with weapons disguised as civilian items. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Yellen and other officials from President Joe Biden’s administration sent stern warnings to China’s government. The State Department sanctioned multiple Chinese companies it accused of violating sanctions placed on Russia. Hunter Biden has been linked to business deals in both China and Ukraine. Investigations by the Department of Justice into the Biden family’s potential wrongdoing in its dealings with China go back to 2021, before Russia invaded the country in February 2022.

In May 2022, Yellen warned European powers against working with China, stressing the need for unity in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the speech to Brussels Economic Forum she called on allies to dissuade China from economic practices that disadvantage western countries. She stressed the need for China and the West to address common vulnerabilities. After talking to Blinken in April 2024, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg commented on how apparent it was that China was “propping up” Russia’s war economy, arguing that in return Russia was “mortgaging its future” to China.