On Friday, the US Treasury Department said that Washington had imposed sanctions on two Russian companies and two vessels over their involvement in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has criticised the US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 as being “groundless” actions that violate international law.
“As for Nord Stream 2, the US slapped groundless sanctions on normal cooperation between two sovereign states in accordance with its domestic legislation, something that broke international law and basic norms of international relations”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Monday.
He insisted that Washington’s actions once again reflect America’s hegemonic thinking and that they will almost surely be opposed by the international community.
The statement echoes that of Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, who said “the unilateral actions of the Americans against the [Nord Stream 2] project violate international law and contradict the principle of free-market relations”.
“From the very beginning, Washington strove to prevent the development of normal energy cooperation between Russia and Europe”, Antonov said, adding that the sanctions are “nothing more than an attempt to gain a competitive advantage for its [US] fuel and technology suppliers”.
The ambassador also stressed that “today’s anti-Russian attacks demonstrate Washington’s lack of will to implement the important understandings that were reached between the presidents of the two countries at the June summit in Geneva”.
