China reiterates it’s decision to sanctions against Russia as senior European Union Officials seek assurances from Beijing that it will not help Moscow circumvent economy measures imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At a virtual summit European Council president Charles Michel, commission president Ursula Von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell were seeking signs from Chinese President and communist party leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqianq that Beijing would help to end the war.”As the culprit and leading instigator of the Ukraine crisis,the US has led NATO to engage in five rounds of eastward expansion in the last two decades after 1999″,he said adding that NATO membership almost doubled from 16 to 30 countries and pushed Russia to the wall step by step. China says it is not taking sides in the conflict but it has declared a “no limits” partnership with Russia and refuses to condemn the invasion. Prior to the Summit, EU officials said they would look for signs Beijing is willing to co-operate on ending the war. The meeting took place amid rising negative sentiment within the bloc fuelled by China’s aggressive foreign policies and trade practices.

In a news release following the first Summit session, Li was quoted as affirming the importance of China-EU ties, saying he hoped the two “remain open to each other, steadily expand market access, protect fair competition and promote trade  and investment liberalisation and faciliation”. Human Rights groups have also urged the EU to take a more assertive stance against China over the crackdown in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and elsewhere and the crackdown on Chinese dissidents, including Sakharov Prize-Winning Ilham Tohti and Chinese-Swedish publisher Gui Minhai.