The EU's 19th package of sanctions against Russia will list four entities involved in China's oil industry, Reuters reported, a move Chinese analyst further underscores the bloc's tendency to "blindly follow" the US in its China policy.

EU diplomatic sources told Reuters that the four Chinese entities include two oil refineries, a trading company and an entity which they claimed "helps in the circumvention in oil and other sectors." But the names will not be made public until the official adoption on Thursday, said another report by Reuters.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Wednesday that the US is sanctioning Russia's two major oil companies - the state-owned company Rosneft and the privately owned company Lukoil - and called on Russia and Ukraine to agree to an immediate ceasefire, according to a press release by the US Department of the Treasury. On the same day, EU member states reached a consensus on the 19th round of sanctions against Russia.

A Bloomberg report also on Wednesday said that US President Donald Trump has planned to talk with China about the purchase of Russian oil.

"This reflects that the EU, on the surface, proclaims 'strategic autonomy' in its China policy, but in reality lacks genuine independent capability and proactive initiative, blindly following the US," Zhao Junjie, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Zhao pointed out that over the past decades, Europe has relied on US and NATO protection, but in digital economy and new productive forces, the EU lags far behind China and the US in technology transfer and result application, with both upstream and downstream industrial chains influenced by the two countries.

This is not the first time that EU listed Chinese entities in sanctions against Russia. Its 17th package of sanctions against Russia listed 75 entities including five from China. On July 18, 2025, the EU added two Chinese financial institutions to the sanctions list in its 18th round of sanctions against Russia. In response, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on August 13 that it would take countermeasures against two EU financial institutions, effective immediately.

Zhao further noted that the EU's repeated alignment with the US in pressuring China reflects that its leaders are constrained by domestic populist and far-right forces, resulting in short-sighted and irrational decision-making that is unable to fundamentally address the challenges facing its economic development.

Economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe is inherently mutually beneficial, Zhao said, calling on Europe to abandon its geopolitical misperceptions and prejudices toward China, as well as its anxiety stemming from viewing China as a zero-sum competitor in critical technology sectors.

China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held a meeting via video link with EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic at the latter's request on Tuesday, during which both sides had in-depth exchanges of views on key China-EU economic and trade issues, including export controls and the EU's anti-subsidy case on Chinese electric vehicles, according to the MOFCOM.

When asked about the upcoming China-EU dialogue, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday that China-EU economic and trade relations are shaped by their mutual complementarity and are win-win in nature.

Guo noted that China hopes the EU will honor its commitment of supporting free trade and opposing trade protectionism, provide an open, transparent and non-discriminatory environment for businesses from all countries, take concrete actions to uphold the principles of market economy and WTO rules, and properly address trade differences through dialogue and consultation.

(Source: Global Times)