New Eastern Outlook
Ulson Gunnar
March 31, 2014
China
has maintained a very careful and consistent foreign policy of
non-interference. It has steadfastly condemned foreign incursions into
other nations under any pretext. In recent years, this has been extended
to NATO’s adventures in Libya and Syria, where China has been vocal in
its condemnation of foreign meddling. This is not only because China
believes in national sovereignty in general as the foundation upon which
it is building its global influence, but also and perhaps primarily
because it fears for its own territorial integrity at home.
When
Crimea voted to join the Russian Federation, the Chinese were
particularly cautious in how they responded diplomatically. China even abstained from voting on a resolution submitted to the UN General Assembly backing Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Their
somewhat ambiguous statements and moves have given license to
international press houses to portray China as opposing Russia.
Headlines such as the Business Insider’s “China Doesn’t Back Russia’s Invasion Of Crimea — And That’s A Big Problem For Putin,” seem to describe Beijing as wholly abandoning Moscow over the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
The
Business Insider even goes as far as saying, ”Russia’s Vladimir Putin
has committed a grave strategic blunder by tearing up the international
rule book without a green light from China. Any hope of recruiting
Beijing as an ally to blunt Western sanctions looks doomed, and with it
the Kremlin’s chances of a painless victory, or any worthwhile victory
at all.”
Another assessment, this time from Bloomberg’s Businessweek, strikes a little closer to reality. In an article titled, “Is China Siding With Putin in the Ukraine Crisis?,”
Businessweek states, ”The Chinese might naturally sympathize with
Vladimir Putin, someone willing to stick it to Western leaders such as
President Obama. However, China has long opposed actions that smack of
interference in other countries’ internal affairs, in part to keep
outsiders away from such sensitive issues as Tibet and Chinese
dissidents.”
