The Position and Actions of the People’s Republic of China Regarding the Russian-Ukrainian War

Abstract

The article reveals the position and actions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war after February 24, 2022. The main leitmotifs of the PRC leadership’s statements on the international arena also look dualistic. On the one hand, the leader of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, attests to the need to stop the war as soon as possible; together with French President F. Macron calls to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and resolve the conflict through negotiations. But on the other hand, Beijing votes in favor of Russia in the UN, and Chinese state media supports Moscow’s position. Currently, the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is a global geopolitical conflict, is viewed by China as a “window of opportunity”. Beijing longs to create its own economic macro-region in East Asia, while competing for global leadership with the United States, whose focus is currently more concentrated on the security of Europe as a whole in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine caused the general spectrum of the “Taiwan problem” to play with new “colors”. The next aggravation of relations between the US and the PRC regarding the “Taiwan issue” took place in the spring of 2022. However, an open armed confrontation between the US and the PRC regarding the resolution of the “Taiwan issue” currently seems unlikely, and sharp political statements by the leaders of both the PRC and the US is an illustration to both the citizens of their countries and to their allies that they have the situation under control and are ready to use any means necessary to achieve their long-term national interests. Suffering losses nowadays as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, China is quite logically advocating an end to this armed confrontation, at the same time, this crisis has opened up certain strategic opportunities for the PRC that Beijing can take advantage of in the long term.

Keywords

• russian-ukrainian war, prc, usa, “taiwan problem”, settlement