Western sanctions on China and Russia have done little to change their minds: analysts

Despite a torrent of Western sanctions imposed on Beijing and Moscow, there is little evidence they have had any success in altering Chinese or Russian policies, analysts said on Friday.

The punitive measures have not convinced China to reduce its civilian-military integration or augment its policies towards ethnic Uygurs in Xinjiang, said Martin Chorzempa of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, nor have they convinced Moscow to roll back its war on Ukraine.

“It is very hard to think of cases where China has said, ‘because of the sanctions, we’re going to change’,” added Chorzempa, speaking at a PIIE event in Washington on Friday.

“Can we actually change other countries’ policies? I think we should be quite bearish.”

However, such pressure succeeded in making it more difficult for China and Russia to carry out effective policies over time, analysts said.