( Newsmax )
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Monday that he is working with the Biden administration on proposed sanctions against Chinese companies believed to be helping Russia with its war in Ukraine.
The sanctions reportedly would be similar to those proposed by the European Union last week that would, for the first time, penalize companies in China as part of its effort to close loopholes that allow Russia to route military technology through third countries to its weapons factories.
"It's an area that we're looking at, and Congress is working with the administration as to how we can enforce the sanctions against Russia, and that will require greater cooperation of other countries," Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNBC.
The two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is Thursday.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNBC that fears about the sanctions hurting the U.S., given the countries' sizable trading partnership, would not deter them from taking place. He said he expects them to be announced "very soon."
"My hope is the very threat of it — and the fact that the Europeans are really serious about this, which is a relatively recent development — ought to clarify some thinking in Beijing, I hope," Connolly said.
"If broad sanctions were applied to China, it would really hit home. And their economic performance right now is already weak. I would hope China would calculate carefully that there are consequences around the corner for supporting Russia's violence and depravity in Ukraine."
The EU has proposed adding about 20 firms, including three on mainland China, one in Turkey, and one in India, to an export blacklist of those providing support to Russia's military, The Guardian reported Feb. 14.
Two Russian shipping companies accused of transporting arms from North Korea to Dunai, a port east of Vladivostok, are also among the proposed sanctions being discussed, which would be the 13th round since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The EU had placed similar export bans on more than 600 companies, including three based in Hong Kong, and firms in countries including Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan.
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