Senior US and Chinese officials will meet in Rome on Monday, the White House announced on Sunday, warning Beijing it would face “consequences” if it helps Russia evade Western sanctions imposed since the Ukraine invasion.
National Security Advisor to US President Joe Biden, Jake Sullivanwill meet with yang jiechithe top diplomatic official of the Chinese Communist Party.
The two leaders and their respective teams “will discuss ongoing efforts to manage competition between (the) two countries and the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security,” said Emily Horne, a spokeswoman for the Council of White House Homeland Security, in a statement.
Beijing has not directly condemned the invasion launched by Moscow against Ukraine and has repeatedly blamed the “eastward expansion” of the NATO of the worsening of tensions between Kiev and Moscow, one of the main demands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are closely monitoring the extent to which China provides, in one way or another, assistance to Russia, whether it be material or economic,” Jake Sullivan said on CNN on Sunday.
“It is a concern for us and we have made it clear to Beijing that we will not sit idly by and we will not let any country compensate for Russia’s losses due to the economic sanctions” imposed since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. , he added.
“There will absolutely be consequences in the case of significant actions aimed at circumventing sanctions.”
The talks scheduled for Monday in Italy “are part of ongoing efforts to maintain an open line of communication” between China and the United States, Horne said in the statement.
A similar meeting between these two top officials took place in October in Switzerland.
kg