Mar 14, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, U.S National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan plans to meet China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday and will stress the economic penalties Beijing will face if it helps Russia in its war in Ukraine.

Without elaborating, a U.S official said Sullivan would warn that China could face global isolation if it continued to support Russia. Officials in the United States and other countries have in recent weeks sought to make it clear to China that supporting Russia could lead to disruption in trade flows, the development of new technologies and secondary sanctions.

U.S Secretary of Commerce Gina Raymondo said last week that Chinese companies violating U.S sanctions on exports to Russia would be cut off from the US equipment and software they needed to make their products.

The world’s largest exporter, China, is the European Union’s largest trading partner, and the largest supplier of foreign goods to the United States, and any pressure on Chinese trade has economic implications for the United States and its allies. 

U.S. officials told Reuters that Russia had demanded military equipment from China in the wake of the attack, raising concerns within the Biden administration that Beijing was helping the West strengthen its military presence in Ukraine.

Jake Sullivan told press at the White House that Washington was keeping a close eye on the extent to which Beijing had provided financial or material assistance to Russia.

“We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing, that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them,” he said.

“We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country, anywhere in the world.”

Last month, Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin announced an upgraded “no limits” strategic partnership just weeks before the Ukraine invasion.