China has condemned US threats to impose secondary sanctions on two Chinese banks, calling any such measures “illegal” and lacking UN Security Council authorisation.
"China opposes illegal unilateral sanctions without the authorisation of the UN Security Council," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a regular news conference in Beijing.
Guo's remarks came after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday during a briefing that the US has sent letters to two Chinese banks stating, "If we can prove that there is Iranian money flowing through your accounts, then we are willing to put on secondary sanctions."
Bessent said that China used to purchase more than 90 percent of Iranian oil, which was about 8 percent of China's energy needs.
"We have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions," Bessent told reporters at the White House.
He additionally expressed Washington's belief that with the US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, "There will be a pause in Chinese buying."
Bessent also said that Washington will not be renewing the waivers that allowed the purchase of some Iranian and Russian oil without facing the US sanctions.
The US has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports following rare direct talks between Washington and Tehran in Pakistan over the weekend aimed at ending the war that began on February 28, but which failed to produce an agreement.
Separately, according to a report from the South China Morning Post on Thursday, China has continued to diversify its foreign exchange reserves in February, while trimming its US Treasury stockpile.
