Decisions China makes regarding Russia will be watched closely: US

Washington, Mar 16 (PTI) The decisions China makes regarding Russia are going to be watched by the world, the White House has said, amid reports that Beijing is trying to help Moscow either militarily or economically in its war against Ukraine.

“We are watching closely. The world is watching closely, and our national security adviser was clear. There will be consequences should they violate our sanctions,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday in response to a question. “The decisions that China makes are going to be watched by the world. But in terms of any potential impacts or consequences, we’ll leave those to private diplomatic channels at this point,” Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference.

She was asked what qualified as helping Russia evade sanctions when it comes to China. “During the lengthy conversation that our national security adviser had with his counterpart, he reiterated our one-China policy based on the Taiwan Relations Act, three communiques and six assurances, and underscored concerns about Beijing’s coercive and provocative actions across the Taiwan Strait, which is, of course, our position publicly, but is also something that he took the time to reiterate during this conversation,” Psaki said.

“There are a range of sanctions we obviously have in place. And we watch, of course, if there’s a violation of those. And we also watch if there is support provided for the military invasion of another country. I don’t have any assessment of that to provide you today,” she said in response to the question. On what measures were on the table if China was found to be helping Russia either militarily or economically in the war, Psaki said the US is going to have those conversations directly with China and the Chinese leadership, and not through the media at this point in time.

“I would note that when our national security adviser was having his meeting yesterday, he was very direct about the consequences. He made clear we’re going to be watching closely, made clear that it’s not just us. The decisions that China makes are going to be watched by the world,” Psaki said.

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