Chinese President Xi Jinping blasts sanctions on Russia as 'double-edged swords'

Chinese President Xi Jinping lashed out at the West on Wednesday for imposing sanctions on fellow BRICS member Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, saying they will hurt more than just the intended target.

The world needs to “reject the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose unilateral sanctions and abuse of sanctions, and reject the small circles built around hegemonism by forming one big family belonging to a community with a shared future for humanity," Xi said in his keynote address at the BRICS Business Forum, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Xi continued that the Ukraine conflict has “sounded an alarm for humanity: Countries will surely end up in security hardships if they place blind faith in their positions of strength, expand military alliances, and seek their own safety at the expense of others.”

China has refused to condemn the Kremlin's illegal invasion of Ukraine on Ukraine and supports its ally Russia. The two make up the BRICS bloc of emerging economies with Brazil, India and South Africa, whose 14th annual summit begins Thursday.

The Chinese leader called the sanctions “boomerangs” and “double-edged swords,” saying “those who politicize, leverage and weaponize global economy and willfully impose sanctions by taking advantage of dominance in international financial and monetary systems will eventually harm others and themselves and bring disasters to people around the world.”

He argued that emerging and developing countries would experience negative spillover effects more severely than developed ones.

The BRICS economic collective is not free of its own troubles. China’s growth declined sharply amid harsh COVID-19 lockdowns and South Africa and Brazil have seen their economies become mired in crisis, reports AP.

India, the second largest economy in BRICS by nominal GDP, is walking a tightrope to maintain ties with the West as it feuds at its disputed border with China.

Xi's position has raised criticism in the international community.

In an April 26 Foreign Policy article, Craig Singleton, a fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies said Beijing's position on Ukraine made the superpower look weak, arguing that China "has been reduced to a bystander seemingly at the mercy of decisions made not in Beijing but in Washington, Brussels, and, more importantly, Moscow."

Singleton added that "Xi’s decision to tacitly back Putin has contributed to China’s growing international isolation."