Singapore: Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine threatens to draw Australia into economic sanctions on China after the United States briefed allies that Beijing was willing to supply arms to Russia.

The supply of military equipment would trigger “serious consequences”, the White House said on Tuesday after a tense seven-hour meeting between US and Chinese representatives in Rome ratcheted up tensions between the two superpowers.

China’s Foreign Policy adviser Yang Jiechi and US National Security Adviser Jake SullivanCredit:Getty/composite image

Australian Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said that Australia would follow Washington and its international partners “in lockstep” in response to “any and all” reactions that support Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

Sanctions on China could escalate the war in Ukraine to a global economic fight. China’s economy is six times larger than Russia’s and is the world’s largest manufacturer and consumer market.

“I hope that it doesn’t come to that because I hope and trust that China does not supply weapons to Russia and does not support this,” Birmingham told Sky News on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne warned on Tuesday evening that “countries that directly support Russia in this unlawful invasion would face consequences”.

“I know that the United States has said that there would be co-ordination with partners and allies on any such response and Australia would be part of that co-ordination,” she said.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Tuesday that China was not a party to the crisis. “Nor does it want the sanctions to affect China,” he said. “China has the right to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”

China has described claims by the United States that Russia had asked for military equipment as malicious disinformation. The claims have been spread in a series of media reports in the United States and to allies via diplomatic briefings to Europe and Asia.

As a US ally in Asia, Australia would have also received the briefing. The claims related to specific requests for military equipment including drones, surface-to-air missiles and armoured vehicles, but there is conjecture over whether the request was made by Moscow to Beijing at the beginning of the invasion on February 24 or more recently.

Russia has denied it needed help as the conflict grinds on into its fourth week and Moscow grapples with troop, tank and weapon shortages after the death of up to 6000 Russian soldiers and the destruction of 465 heavy vehicles, including tanks.

The capital Kyiv was hit by large explosions across the city before dawn on Tuesday as Russian troops moved within 15 kilometres of the capital. A series of strikes on a residential area started a fire inside a 15-storey apartment building, killing one and trapping others inside.

Across Ukraine, many of Russia’s military offensives continued to stall under ineffective air power. US officials briefing the media in Washington said that more than 900 missiles had been launched by Russia, but Ukraine was still contesting the airspace. About 160 cars full of civilians were allowed to leave the besieged city of Mariupol, which is now running out of water, food and medicine.

A Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed a trolleybus and taxi after a Russian bombing attack in Kyiv. Credit:AP

In the meeting in Rome between Beijing’s top foreign affairs official Yang Jiechi and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Yang told Sullivan that China “firmly opposes any words and deeds that spread false information, distort and smear China’s position”.

“China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine come to this point,” said Yang. “China is committed to promoting peace talks, and the international community should jointly support the Russia-Ukraine peace talks to achieve substantive results as soon as possible.”

But China’s unwillingness to condemn the actions of Russia, a country that it has described as its “most important strategic partner” since its invasion of Ukraine began in February, has led the Biden administration to claim that it is tacitly supporting Moscow’s actions.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Sullivan raised “directly and very clearly our concerns about [China’s] support to Russia in the wake of the invasion”, and “the implications that any such support would have for [China’s] relationship not only with us but for its relationships around the world”.

Birmingham said that, after sanctioning Russian ally Belarus in February, Australia had shown it was “willing to take sanctions against those players who support Russia in ways that underpin Russia’s atrocious attacks on Ukraine”.

“We will continue to do that to any and all in relation to actions that in any way support Russia’s assault on the Ukrainians,” he said.

“What we encourage China to do is stand up for the sovereignty of Ukraine. Stand up for the rights of Ukrainian people and apply pressure on Russia to cease this war, to stop this war, on Vladimir Putin to end the killing of Ukrainians.”

China has hit Australia with $20 billion in trade strikes over the past two years after Australia banned Huawei, called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 and raised human rights concerns about China’s treatment of Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Australia has not directly sanctioned Chinese officials involved in either region, after passing Magnitsky laws last year, but has backed sanctions by the US and Britain.

The US has been co-ordinating with allies to establish a threshold at which China would cross the line in its assistance to Russia, triggering fresh sanctions. The response to that breach would be co-ordinated across Europe, the US and Asia.

Governments could levy economic sanctions on Chinese individuals, companies and financial institutions, seizing their assets or preventing them from doing business – but they would need to be matched by partners around the world to stop them from being evaded.

China makes up more than 18 per cent of the global economy, compared with Russia’s 3 per cent, meaning any action against China would be felt around the world.

Ratings agency Moody’s on Tuesday said the war in Ukraine had hurt the global economy just as it started showing signs of bouncing back from COVID-19 and that oil, gas, shipping, car manufacturing and electronic supplies were all now being hit.

“The myriad risks to supply-chain normalisation come just as they were beginning to recover from the disruptions of COVID-19,” it said in a note to investors.

David Silbey, an associate professor in military history at Cornell University in Washington, said China had yet to decide what role it would play in the conflict.

“In a cynical great power move, they could supply arms to the Russians to keep the US and the European nations focused on Ukraine and distract them from Asia,” he said.

“But that’s a dangerous game to play, given how fierce the blowback has been to anyone co-operating with Russia.”

Maria Repnikova, a Chinese diplomacy expert at Georgia State University, said China’s ambiguous messaging had put it in a tricky position that could be interpreted as siding with Russia.

“I think if we look at global public opinion, it seems that it’s not quite matching the goals of improving China’s image or the idea of getting on the right side of history,” she said.

With AP

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