US and Europe  examine sanctions against Beijing for supporting Russia

• Chinese leaders get a look at what can be possible when Western allies unite to hobble the economy of a major power
• Beijing has failed to convince the West of its self-proclaimed neutrality on the Ukraine war as political winds shift rapidly

Within days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China watched the United States and its allies thrash Moscow’s economy with astonishing speed, coordination and power. Now officials in Washington are looking ahead towards a once-unthinkable possibility: in a future moment of crisis, would those same economic weapons work against China too?

In the weeks since Washington unleashed the broadest sanctions in history against Russia, studies are already under way within US President Joe Biden’s administration to learn how similar economic tools might one day affect Beijing.

At the same time, as the European Union’s relations with China have plunged to unprecedented depths, the US has also floated these theories with allies in Europe, a sign of the resurgent transatlantic cooperation galvanised by the war.