Sweden Calls for New EU Sanctions on Chinese Companies

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström speaks at a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, on Nov. 8, 2023. (Emmi Korhonen/Lehtikuva/AFP/Getty Images)

Sweden has expressed support for the European Union (EU) to impose additional sanctions on Chinese companies as the bloc develops its 15th sanctions package targeting Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said this week that it may be necessary to ramp up sanctions against Chinese firms accused of enabling Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

In an interview with Swedish media outlet Dagens Nyheter on Aug. 5, Billström emphasized the need to stem the ongoing flow of certain goods from China to Russia, which he said NATO sources estimate account for some 80 percent of the materials Moscow requires for its war effort.

“With its actions, China is enabling Russia’s warfare in Ukraine,” he said, according to an English translation of his remarks, made in Swedish. “In order to put an end to the Russian aggression, it is important to think through the economic sanctions that the EU has introduced.”

The move was made amid growing concerns that Chinese entities are helping Russia circumvent existing sanctions, allowing Moscow to continue its military campaign against Kyiv despite multiple rounds of punitive measures from the West.

The EU’s 14th sanctions package, adopted in June, already targeted 19 Chinese companies among a total of 61 entities accused of aiding Russia’s war efforts. The package included a range of measures, including export restrictions on dual-use technology and the prohibition of EU facilities from being used in the shipment of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to any third-party countries, including China.

Billström said that Sweden has supported these sanctions against Chinese companies and, when asked about imposing new sanctions on Chinese entities, he confirmed that this may be necessary to ensure that “we plug as many holes as possible in the web of sanctions that have already been established.”

NATO Summit

The Swedish foreign minister’s comments follow the recent NATO summit in Washington, where member states called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, as the defense alliance hardened its stance against Beijing and the growing challenges they say it poses to their security.

China’s “no limits” partnership with Russia and its “large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base” are enabling Moscow to wage its war, the NATO leaders’ joint statement said, while urging China to “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort.”

Chinese officials have repeatedly denied that Beijing is supporting Russia’s military campaign, with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi in July calling NATO’s accusations “groundless.”

Sweden’s hardening stance against China is in line with its recently published national security strategy, which identifies China as a significant threat to Sweden’s security, not just for its role in the Ukraine conflict but also for its broader espionage and security activities within Europe.

Alongside Russia and Iran, the document identified China as posing a direct threat to Sweden’s national security by its alleged contribution to a series of “hybrid threats” facing the Nordic country.

“The threats are aimed at actors at all levels of the Swedish public sector, but also at civil society, the private sector and individuals,” the document reads.

“The methods include cyber attacks, undue influence, economic pressure, sabotage, impact on critical flows, migration as an instrument of pressure, unlawful intelligence activities and the execution of attacks and other acts of violence.”

Sweden’s strategy also highlights the need to balance its relations with China while reducing risks and dependencies, in line with U.S. security policy shifts.

Sweden has been a member of the EU since Jan. 1, 1995, and it joined NATO on March 7, 2024.