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China has been stepping up 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 their future, and while it
wants peace, it will defend itself if attacked.
Asked by the Neue Zuercher Zeitung paper if Switzerland would
adopt EU sanctions against China in that case, State Secretariat
for Economic Affairs (SECO) Director Marie-Gabrielle
Ineichen-Fleisch said: "I strongly believe that we would adopt
such sanctions.
"However, sanctions in the case of China would be far more
drastic (than sanctions against Russia) because the economic
relations are much more important. Therefore, there would
probably be greater discussions in the EU and the United States
as well as in Switzerland than there were in Russia. But I hope
it will never come to that."
Ineichen-Fleisch defended Switzerland's record on adopting EU
sanctions against Russian individuals and companies over
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, which Moscow describes
as a "special military operation".
Pressure has mounted on Switzerland -- a popular destination for
Moscow's elite and a holding place for Russian wealth -- to more
quickly identify and freeze assets of hundreds of sanctioned
Russians.
As of this month Switzerland has frozen 6.7 billion Swiss francs
($7.04 billion) worth of Russian financial assets and 15
properties, and Ineichen-Fleisch said this figure was 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 said.
($1 = 0.9514 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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