My Take | On Ukraine, China is the adult in the room
- Given Beijing’s nuanced, principled and disinterested stance, it’s in a far better position to play the honest broker in the current crisis. Too bad the West has already assumed it’s on Russia’s side
It appeals to basic principles that have underpinned China’s diplomacy for decades, and it’s a calculation based on self-interests. But it also offers a rational way out of the crisis. I don’t know if China is the only proverbial adult in the room, but it is acting like a responsible one. It won’t get credit or recognition for that, though, of course.
Non-interference
Wang said the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of every country must be safeguarded and “Ukraine is no exception”. That has long been the basic diplomatic principle of communist China, come rain or shine. OK, it did sometimes depart from it, especially under Mao Zedong. British historian Julia Lovell offers an exhaustive documentation of Mao’s foreign adventurism in Maoism: A Global History. I mention it here because someone is bound to cite it. As eye-opening as the book was for me, I don’t think it amounted to a refutation of China’s long-standing diplomatic philosophy. But that’s for another discussion.
Despite its increasingly close relationship with Moscow, Beijing has steadfastly refused to recognise the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia following Russia’s war with Georgia in 2008. Again, like most other countries, China has not recognised the Crimea after Russia’s annexation or occupation – depending on your political perspective – of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
In both cases, Beijing has been following the international consensus. Its refusal to grant recognition perfectly accords with the country’s commitment to non-interference, and unconditional respect for “the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”. The latter, sometimes called the Westphalian principle, is a centuries-old Western concept often cited to deter hegemony.