BEIJING, July 21. /TASS/. Normal cooperation between companies of Russia and China should not be subject to anyone's interference, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing on Monday.

"Normal relations and cooperation between Chinese and Russian enterprises should never be subject to [anyone's] interference or influence," he said, commenting on the European Union's 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions. "We insist that the European side stop harming the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises without any substantiated basis for doing so."

Beijing has always sought negotiations and advocated for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict, the Chinese diplomat pointed out. He stressed that China had never provided lethal weapons to any of the parties to the conflict and "strictly controlled the export of dual-use products."

"China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions that lack basis in international law and resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council," Guo added. "China will take the necessary measures, we will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," he concluded.

Last week, the European Union introduced the 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions, which included four Chinese companies — Zhu Jiang Shipmanagement, ACE Electronic HK (registered in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), Wuhan Global Sensor Technology and Shandong ODES Industry. The European side accuses them of being involved in supplying dual-use goods and technologies to Russia in violation of Brussels' restrictions.