British international experts are dissatisfied with China's position on Ukraine
Beijing refuses to accuse Russia of violating Ukraine's sovereignty.
British international relations experts Angela di Floristella and Xuechen Chen come to this conclusion, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports, in their joint article for the portal ukandeu.ac.
They draw attention to a study conducted from February 2022 to November 30, 2022, which examined the portrayal of the Ukrainian conflict in Chinese Foreign Ministry press releases.
“First, China views the United States as the main actor underlying the international security architecture, holding it most responsible for the conflict in Ukraine. Empirical data indicate that the term “United States” appears more often in the analyzed texts than “Russia”.
Both the United States and NATO are portrayed as conflict-mongers, perpetuating what they call a “rules-based international order” that systematically undermines global peace and security.
Consequently, the conflict in Ukraine is interpreted not as a regional dispute between Russia and Ukraine, but as an aspect of a broader geostrategic rivalry involving Russia, the United States and their main allies. Chief among these concerns is the portrayal of NATO's aggressive eastward expansion, which has consistently ignored Russia's stern admonitions, as the fundamental catalyst for the war in Ukraine,” the authors write.
They point out that Europe, in Beijing's view, is politically and militarily subordinate to and dependent on the United States, which is portrayed as a common beneficiary of the protracted Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
In addition, Europe is presented as one of the main victims of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as it suffered serious losses.
The article notes that “Chinese sources have consistently avoided admitting that Russia violated Ukraine’s sovereignty by invading its territory.”
“They refer to the concept of sovereignty only in the context of Taiwan. On the contrary, in the case of Ukraine, they advocate solving Russia's legitimate security problems, effectively ignoring any calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the occupied regions.
While China argues that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, this argument is selectively applied to Taiwan rather than Russian aggression in Ukraine. At the same time, Russia’s actions are portrayed as a logical defensive measure, a reaction to attempts by the United States and NATO to jeopardize Russia’s security,” experts write.
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