President Joe Biden has pursued a strategy of restoring relationships with allies to put pressure on Beijing.
The allies were shown what they could do by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The severity and speed with which the U.S. and its allies imposed sanctions on Russia is a warning sign for China.
Since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods, Chinese officials have increased efforts to bolster their country's self-reliance.
Trump did all that singlehandedly, while damaging ties with Europe and provoking uncertainty among U.S. allies in Asia.
This is very alarming for China, given the success that the U.S. has had in coordinating the financial sanctions and export controls.
Goujon said that China would benefit from the U.S. having a big distraction in Europe.
Many countries have joined the U.S. in freezing the assets of Russian billionaires, limiting access to Russia's biggest banks, and cutting off Russia from critical technology.
China's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said it doesn't oppose all illegal sanctions.
Wang said last week that China does not agree with resolving issues with sanctions, still less.
In response to a question about whether Western sanctions on trade with Russia would affect China, Wang reiterated that position.
Sanctions only cause serious difficulties to the economy and livelihood of relevant countries and intensify division and confrontation.
Escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China in the last few years had already accelerated Beijing's efforts to firm up ties with Europe. All that is at risk because of the Ukraine war.
It is going to be more and more difficult for China to balance its relations with Europe and Russia. Nick Marro, global trade leader at The Economist Intelligence Unit, said that that has consequences for trade links with the EU.
I think the West is very caught up in the moment, ... this idea that the U.S.-led liberal order is back, Germany has woken up, even Switzerland.
The more China tries to fudge its stance on Russia and focus its criticism on NATO and the U.S., the riskier it is for China's reputation.
China was hoping to use the EU as a way to counterbalance the pressure it was facing from the U.S.
The impact on China from the sanctions is secondary, according to Marro.
China is facing a number of economic challenges, from sluggish consumer demand to a slowdown in its massive property sector. Beijing is worried about stability this year as leaders are set to meet in the fall to give Xi a third term.
China is more entrenched in the global economy than Russia is, and it doesn't have the same vulnerabilities when it comes to sanctions.
Europe relies on Russian oil and natural gas, but Russia is small in global terms, with an economy the size of the U.S. state of Texas.
Alexander-Nikolai Sandkamp said that a full trade war with China would be costly for the West and in no one's interest.
If China took a stand against Russia, the West would welcome it.
The war and sanctions in the Ukranian peninsula will likely lower global gross domestic product by a small amount this year, according to a lead economist at Oxford Economics.
China's ability to support Russia is an example of the limits of global finance. After the war began, the U.S. and EU pledged to remove some Russian banks from the standard interbank messaging system.
If all Russian institutions are banned from joining the SWIFT network, the level of political pressure will be different.
Any attempt to avoid punishment would be consideredcomplicit.
Last week, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank announced it was suspending its activities in Russia.
In the United States, the Democrat and Republican parties are unable to work together to achieve even widely supported domestic goals.
Goujon pointed out that the U.S. presidential election in 2024 poses a risk to how long the unity lasts among U.S. allies.
The idea that the U.S.-led liberal order is back, Germany has woken up, she said.
She said that there are other countries that embrace the Chinese narrative more readily, like Mexico and India.
The Biden administration is trying hard to unify the world's democracies, and since the Ukraine war started, more of them seem to be listening.
The leaders of Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S. held a call last week to reiterate their commitment to work together. India has yet to condemn the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Biden's strategy is to restore American leadership in the Asia-Pacific, according to a fact sheet published in February. There was no intention to engage Beijing on the economic aspects of building up the Indo-Pacific, a U.S. official told reporters last month.
China wants all parties to do the right thing, according to Wang.
Wang said that China does not like bloc politics. He said that Beijing's ties with Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and other countries were separate from China's other foreign relations.
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