Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The Chinese Embassy in the US slammed Washington's latest sanctions against Chinese entities over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying that China firmly opposes the US imposing unilateral illegal sanctions on Chinese entities, Russian news agency TASS reported on Thursday.

The US on Wednesday issued a new package of sanctions on hundreds of companies and individuals, including more than a dozen Chinese entities, for "helping Moscow find workarounds to earlier penalties," AP reported on Thursday.

This is one of the most wide-ranging actions against Chinese companies so far in Washington's sanctions targeting Russia, according to Reuters.

"We will uphold the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies," Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US, was quoted by TASS as saying.

In response to US' unwarranted accusations on Chinese entities of "supporting the Russian economy and its defense industrial base through trade," Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, harshly criticized the US' false accusation as "hypocritical and highly irresponsible."

It is hypocritical and highly irresponsible for the US to falsely accuse China over normal trade and economic exchanges with Russia, while passing legislation to provide massive aid to Ukraine, Wang told a press conference on April 26.

The US Senate on April 23 passed a foreign aid bill totaling $95 billion, with $60.84 billion set aside to support Ukraine.

US aid to Ukraine and its fresh package of sanctions are the last frenzy as part of its failing Ukraine policy, Lü Xiang, a research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The Biden administration just wants to put on show its tough stance on foreign policy by imposing illegal sanctions on foreign entities on Ukraine issue. However, this cannot save their already failing Ukraine policy, Lü added.