Perfidious Albion Proclaims, ‘If Russia Invades Ukraine, Sanction China’

Feb. 22, 2022 (EIRNS)—Aaron Arnold, an American “sanctions” expert who worked at the U.S. Pentagon and Justice Department before moving to the Britain’s Center for Financial Crime and Security Studies of the Royal United Services (RUSI), penned an article in Foreign Policy on Feb. 17 titled “If Russia Invades Ukraine, Sanction China,” and subtitled: “Putin has found an economic lifeline in Beijing that only Washington can destroy.” Does one need further proof that the Empire’s target is the destruction of the Russian and Chinese economies, rather than Ukraine or Taiwan or anything else?

Arnold hits at the historic Feb. 4 Joint Statement by Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, which, he whines, “provide[s] Putin an opportunity to lessen the blow from potential Western sanctions.”

“If Washington expects to convey a credible deterrent against a Russian invasion of Ukraine using financial and economic sanctions, it will need to signal its resolve to impose secondary sanctions against China in the same breath. The problem is that the United Kingdom and the European Union, key U.S. allies, do not have the same legal or regulatory frameworks to impose secondary sanctions against Chinese banks or state-owned enterprises.”

Such a remark is, of course, total nonsense. The U.S. unilateral and secondary sanctions are illegal under international law, and the Brits have never had any problem ignoring such trifles. It is simply another example of the British Empire getting the Americans to do their dirty work, both military and economic.

Arnold remarks that the U.S. is diverting liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales to Europe, lying that Europe can replace its Russian imports with (the far more expensive) U.S. LNG. He notes: “As of January, some 75% of U.S. LNG exports were bound for Europe. Last year, that figure stood at only 23%.”

He continues: “To ensure its threats of sanctions remain credible, Washington needs to pressure Putin’s emerging economic lifelines by signaling that it is prepared to go beyond its standard sanctions package to impose secondary sanctions against Chinese banks and state-owned enterprises if Russia invades Ukraine.” He admits that

“China has become wise to the reach of U.S. extraterritorial sanctions and developed its own legal frameworks to push back.... Last year, the country established an anti-sanctions law—similar to the EU’s ‘blocking statute,’ which attempts to curb the extraterritorial application of third-party sanctions by prohibiting compliance with extraterritorial laws. China’s law notes that the country explicitly opposes ‘hegemonism and power politics’ and ‘opposes any country’s interference in China’s internal affairs under any pretext and by any means,’ giving authorities broad powers to impose penalties against Chinese businesses that adhere to U.S. sanctions policies.”

“Deploying these tools against China will have repercussions for U.S. businesses and economic interests...” he admits, but that, “the U.S. dollar accounts for nearly 60% of global foreign currency reserves—and the Chinese renminbi does not. That is a big stick to wield.”