BEIJING : China is opposed to unilateral financial sanctions and won’t participate in such sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said Wednesday.

       In the latest sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western allies decided to cut off several Russian banks from the Swift global financial messaging system.

       “We will not participate in such sanctions, and we will continue to maintain normal economic, trade and financial exchanges with relevant parties," Mr. Guo said in a briefing.

       Unilateral financial sanctions normally have “no good effect" and lack legal basis, he said in response to a question in the briefing.

       Given the close ties between Beijing and Moscow, analysts believe China could help provide an alternative to Swift with its settlement system called the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, although the Chinese network has much limited reach.

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       Mr. Guo said the impact of such sanctions on China’s economy and financial system “is not too obvious now and needs to be observed, “ but it should be limited given the resilience of the Chinese economy.

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