Asia’s commercial heft helps keep Russia’s war economy going

FOLLOWING VLADIMIR PUTIN’S invasion of Ukraine two years ago, more than three dozen countries, led by the West, slapped economic sanctions on Russia. They were unprecedented in their scope for a target of its size, covering energy and other commodities, finance, technology, travel, shipping and more. Their aim was to raise the cost to Russia of continuing the war.

The reorganisation of trade that has followed highlights the relentless eastward shift in the world’s economic centre of gravity. Asia accounts for two-fifths of the world’s GDP. Its ever-increasing commercial pull is diverting much trade that Russia previously conducted with the West, undermining sanctions. That is despite the fact that three of the six Asian countries which have joined the sanctions—Japan, Australia and South Korea—number among the region’s five biggest economies. America should bear this in mind if it ever considers slapping similar sanctions on China.