Beijing: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Monday urged the relevant nations to make constructive efforts to defuse the situation through dialogue and consultations in response to the G7 countries' decision to impose a price cap on Russian oil.

At a routine briefing, the spokeswoman said, "We hope that the relevant countries will make constructive efforts to promote the detente of the situation through dialogue and consultations, and not vice versa." She added that oil, as one of the world's commodities, is essential for ensuring the security of the world's energy supply.

The question of whether China is considering joining the G7 initiative was not directly addressed by the spokeswoman.

The plan to impose a price cap on Russian oil was approved by the G7 finance ministers on September 2, and they urged all nations to support the initiative. Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commission's commissioner for the economy, stated earlier in the day that the commission's objective is to impose a price cap by the deadlines set forth in the sixth set of EU sanctions, which are 5 December 2022 for crude oil and 5 February 2023 for petroleum products.

The idea of capping the price of Russian oil was denounced as absurd on September 1 by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who also threatened that Moscow would stop supplying oil and oil-related products to nations that support the decision. The possible introduction of any price cap on Russian oil by hostile nations, claims Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's economic cooperation division, will only worsen the energy crisis, with Moscow acting for economic reasons.

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