The Attitude of the People's Republic of China towards the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in the Context of Attachment to the Principles of Foreign Policy

• Main Author: Łukasz Jureńczyk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rzeszow University of Technology 2019-03-01
• Series: Humanities and Social Sciences
• Subjects: the people's republic of china; annexation of crimea; russian federation; principles of foreign policy; five principles of peaceful coexistence
• Online Access: https://hss.prz.edu.pl/hss/article/view/43
• ISSN: 2300-5327; 2300-9918

The aim of the article is to present and evaluate the attitude of the People's Republic of China towards the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in the context of attachment to the foreign policy principles of the Middle Kingdom. The introduction shows Beijing's approach to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence that are China's foreign policy doctrine. In the following parts was presented the reaction of the Chinese authorities to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the most important circumstances conditioning it. The analysis was intended to answer the question whether Beijing's attitude during the Crimea crisis was a manifestation of embezzlement with the basic principles of the PRC's foreign policy? The answer to this question is positive. By annexing Crimea, Russia broke all the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Despite this, Pekin did not criticize it. On the contrary, it tried to justify Moscow's actions. During the crisis, Beijing wanted to achieve the greatest benefits and behaved according to a pragmatic approach, which is characteristic of the contemporary PRC’s foreign policy. This confirmed that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are treated instrumentally by the Chinese authorities. When important circumstances speak for it, they are ready to dissent from these principles. This negatively affects the sincerity of Beijing's intentions on the international forum, and raises the question of its policy in the future, after China reaches a dominant position in the world.