Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited Hong Kong and urged its leader John Lee to prevent Russia from using China's special administrative region to circumvent Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Both Hong Kong and China are widely seen by the US government as key routes for Russia to procure resources for its military, including semiconductors and drone parts.
„Dmytro Kuleba called on the Hong Kong administration to take measures to deny Russia and Russian companies the ability to use Hong Kong to circumvent the restrictive measures imposed due to Russian aggression against Ukraine“, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to previously unpublished data from the US Department of Commerce, published by Reuters, Hong Kong remains a common place to circumvent sanctions, although the volume of semiconductors and other restricted goods transported through it and China has decreased by about a fifth this year.
China, the world's second-largest economy, has positioned itself as neutral on the war in Ukraine but announced an “unlimited partnership“ with Russia days before the invasion in 2022. He also provides diplomatic support and helps Russia's wartime economy.
The Hong Kong administration has previously said it does not implement unilateral sanctions imposed by other countries, but strictly abides by those imposed by the UN Security Council.
Kuleba left for Hong Kong after a more than three-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Guangzhou yesterday, which focused on ways to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine.