Police vehicles close a road in the red zone around Borgo Egnazia which will host the G7 summit, on June 12, 2024 in Apulia, Italy. Leaders of G7 nations will gather in southern Italy this week in an attempt to strengthen their unity despite growing divisions over the Ukraine crisis. Photo: VCG

China on Thursday voiced firm opposition to unilateral sanctions imposed by the US targeting some Chinese companies as the US widened sanctions on Russia ahead of the G7 summit in Italy, urging Washington to play a constructive role in promoting a cease-fire, ending the war, and restoring peace.

Some experts believe that the US and Europe will further coordinate their positions on the Ukraine crisis at the summit, and targeting China is now an option for the US-led West to shift the blame diplomatically. Meanwhile, the US is trying to use the geopolitical crisis to engage in a global strategic competition, especially with China, which also indicates that the US has reached a dead end on the two-year-old crisis, they noted. 

The agenda of the first day of the three-day summit in to be held in Puglia, southern Italy, is filled with discussion sessions on the Ukraine crisis, including an appearance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The US and Ukrainian leaders are also anticipated to sign a bilateral security deal on Thursday as they meet on the sidelines of the summit, according to media reports. 

On the eve of the summit, the US expanded sanctions against Russia, targeting some Chinese companies that Washington believes are "helping Russia pursue its war in Ukraine." 

Also, G7 leaders will call on China to "stop enabling and sustaining Russia's war against Ukraine," according to a draft statement reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday.

China and Russia are comprehensive strategic partners of coordination. The mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Russia is inherently logical and very much resilient, and is in the interest of both countries, Lin Jian, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday.  

"China firmly opposes all unilateral sanction and long-arm jurisdiction. The normal economic and trade interactions between China and Russia should not be interfered with or disrupted, still less be used as a tool to smear and contain China," Lin said. 

In addition to the US' continued support for Ukraine, G7 leaders have agreed to engineer a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine that would use interest earned on profits from Russia's frozen central bank assets as collateral, AP reported on Thursday. 

The US and Europe will further coordinate their positions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, targeting China in the process. This includes pushing China to persuade Russia and control its dual-use technology, Sun Keqin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Moreover, this G7 summit takes place before the Ukraine peace summit, which China will not attend, giving the US and Europe more excuese to make an issue of it, Sun said.

On the Ukraine crisis, it is quite clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace, and who is fueling the fight and inciting confrontation, Lin said. 

The US on the one hand continues to pour weapons and munition into Ukraine, yet on the other shifts the blame of undermining peace and protracting the crisis to other countries. It even sees the crisis as an opportunity to slap sanctions and suppress others. "All of it reveals the US's calculations, hypocrisy and what a bully it is," Lin said. 

"On the Ukraine crisis, China has always advocated peace and promoted dialogue, while maintaining a neutral stance. However, as the situation in the battlefield deteriorates, the US-led West has been shifting the blame, attributing the so-called prolonged harm from the conflict to China," said Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

At this G7 summit, the West is not only targeting Russia economically but is also willing to provide substantial financial aid to Ukraine, as they are attempting to establish a fixed, long-term mechanism to support Ukraine, Zhang told the Global Times on Thursday. 

"The G7 has also invited some Global South countries, aiming to form a united front against Russia before the upcoming peace conference [in Switzerland]. But most Global South countries are not likely to take sides on this issue," Zhang said. 

The summit organizers had invited countries such as India, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania, which holds the presidency of the African Union, Reuters reported on Thursday. 

Some experts not only doubt that the US-led West can unite the Global South countries, especially as some will be attending the Moscow-hosted BRICS summit later this year, but also question whether they can even rally major European countries. 

Following the recent European Parliament elections, major European countries are under significant pressure following gains for far-right parties. In this context, Europe will feel overwhelmed by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Palestine issue, both of which are of great concern to the US, Sun noted. 

"The rise of the far-right [in Europe] has direct connections to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Palestine conflict, as Europe cannot resolve the social and economic problems that these conflicts have brought," Sun said. 

Experts said the US may indeed implement more far-reaching sanctions as part of its efforts to isolate Russia, indicating that relations between Russia and the West are not just at their worst but could deteriorate further. 

"In fact, Russia has some countermeasures in response to this diplomatic isolation and military pressure. This includes military actions, such as Russia's current deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the second phase of exercises and sending nuclear submarines to visit Cuba," Zhang said.