GERMAN Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said there would be “consequences” if China sent weapons to Russia for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but said he was fairly optimistic that Beijing will refrain from doing so.

His made the comments in an interview with CNN aired on Sunday, two days after he met United States President Joe Biden in Washington DC.

Despite China recently publishing a 12-point plan for peace in Ukraine, US officials have claimed recently that Beijing could start providing arms and ammunition to Moscow. 

Back in Germany on Sunday, Mr Scholz was asked after his cabinet met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen whether he had received concrete evidence from the US that China was considering weapons deliveries and whether he would back sanctions against Beijing if it helped arm Russia.

Mr Scholtz said: “We all agree that there must be no weapons deliveries and the Chinese government has stated that it wouldn't deliver any.”

Ms Von der Leyen said: “We have no evidence for this so far, but we must observe it every day.”

Mr Scholz continues to come under pressure to say what he knows about the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines in September last year.

An article by journalist Seymour Hersh in February blamed the US for being behind the explosions of the energy pipeline, which was built to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. 

An investigation into the explosions by a team from Denmark, Sweden and Germany has yet to reveal its findings.

But Irish MEP Mick Wallace tweeted: “If Germany, Sweden and most of the European Union don’t want to know who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines or don’t want the world to know, the International Criminal Court should make it their business to find out who’s responsible for this act of terrorism.”