Listen to the news

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Olaf Scholz is a German politician from the Social Democratic Party (GSDP).

From December 2021, it warned that there would be consequences if China sent arms to Russia for the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, he expressed confidence that Beijing would refrain from doing so.

All about the topic:

Russian invasion of Ukraine 9708

Scholz's comments were made in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday, two days after he met with US President Joe Biden in Washington.

US officials recently warned that China could come off the sidelines and start supplying Moscow with weapons and ammunition.

Before his trip, Scholz urged Beijing to refrain from sending weapons and instead use its influence to pressure Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

The President of the EP met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv

Asked by CNN if he could imagine sanctioning China if it had indeed helped Russia, Scholz said: "I think there will be consequences, but we're at a stage now where we're making it clear that this shouldn't happen. happens, and I'm fairly optimistic that we'll be successful with our claim in this case, but we'll have to look at it and we'll have to be very, very cautious.

He did not specify the nature of the consequences.

Germany has the largest economy in Europe and China has been its largest trading partner in recent years.

Scholz was asked after his cabinet's meeting with European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen whether he had received concrete evidence from the US that China was considering arms supplies and whether he would support sanctions against Beijing if it helped arm Russia.

"We all agree that there should be no supply of weapons and the Chinese government has said it will not supply any, the chancellor replied. That is what we are demanding and we are monitoring it."

He did not touch on the issue of sanctions.

Von der Leyen said that "so far we have no evidence of this, but we have to watch every day".

She said whether the European Union (EU) would sanction China for providing military aid to Russia "is a hypothetical question that can only be answered if it becomes a reality and a fact."

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Olaf Scholz

Russia-Ukraine war

sending weapons