China’s communist leadership is pursuing opportunities to increase imports of Russian coal, oil, and gas amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Experts say the move could help stabilize China’s continuing energy woes, but could also backfire by drawing international sanctions on itself.
With Western countries weighing stricter sanctions on Russian energy exports in the months ahead, the question of how Beijing may react to the international ire against Russia is on many minds. It was a topic of discussion for a roundtable of foreign policy experts on July 8 at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a foreign-policy-oriented think tank.
