The Secretary of State for Economic Affairs of the Switzerland (SECO), Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, said the neutral country must implement any punitive measures that the European Union bid against China if Beijing invades Taiwan .
China has intensified military activity around Taiwan, seeking to pressure the democratically elected government there to accept Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan’s government says only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future and that while it wants peace, it will defend itself if attacked.
Asked by the Neue Zuercher Zeitung whether Switzerland would adopt EU sanctions against China in this case, Ineichen-Fleisch said: “I strongly believe that we would adopt such sanctions.”
“However, in the case of China, sanctions would be much more drastic (than they were against Russia) because economic relations are much more important. So there would probably be bigger discussions in the EU and the US, as well as Switzerland, than there was on the issue of Russia. But I hope it never comes to that,” he stated.
Ineichen-Fleisch defended Switzerland’s record of adopting EU sanctions against Russian individuals and companies for the February invasion of Ukraine.
Pressure has mounted in Switzerland — a popular destination for Moscow’s elite and a holding place for Russian wealth — to quickly identify and freeze the assets of hundreds of sanctioned Russians.
As of this month, Switzerland has froze 6.7 billion Swiss francs ($6.4 billion) in Russian financial assets and 15 properties, and Ineichen-Fleisch said that number is unlikely to change much.
“We at SECO have no indication that there are many assets of sanctioned persons that have not yet been found,” she pointed out.
Source: CNN Brasil
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