(Bloomberg) -- Western companies should be reassessing their ties to China in light of its support for the Russian economy, according to BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink.
“Ukraine is at our doorsteps here and I’m surprised that there’s not a larger questioning or demanding — you’re supporting our enemy, we’re putting billions and billions of dollars into supporting the survival of Ukraine, and there should be a cost to that,” Fink said on a panel at the Berlin Global Dialogue conference.
“Russia’s biggest supporter and fundamental supporter of the Russian economy is China. And that has to be at least discussed,” he added. “I’m not here to make any judgments but I don’t believe there’s been enough assessment.”
BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, was the first foreign firm to start a wholly-owned mutual fund business in China three years ago and has faced a probe by US lawmakers for some of its investments in the country, amid ongoing political tensions between the nations.
“We have businesses in China, I’m sure everybody here has some businesses in China,” Fink told the conference on Tuesday. “We all have to re-evaluate that, like we have to re-evaluate a risk in liquidity traps, a risk in everything.”
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