China's instinct is to stand by its strategic partner, but Russia's intervention in Ukraine's Crimea appears to violate China's principle of strict state sovereignty.
These are testing times for Chinese diplomats.
As they plot Beijing’s course through the international uproar over Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, they are torn between conflicting instincts.
On the one hand is a strong reluctance to stand with the West against Moscow – a strategic partner which never openly criticizes China. But on the other is the cardinal principle of Chinese foreign policy – non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
Beijing is not exactly fudging it: Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said plainly last Sunday, when the first reports of Russian armed intervention in Crimea were coming in, that “we respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
But neither has China condemned Russia’s actions; officials here equivocate when they are invited to join the Western chorus of outrage.
“China is uneasy,” says Bonnie Glaser, an Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They cannot endorse Russia’s actions but they don’t want more tensions with Moscow, so they are not emphasizing their differences.”
It is easy to see why China is so insistent on the principle of non-interference: the government is worried about foreigners meddling in China’s own border provinces, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, where Beijing is unsure of local peoples’ loyalties.
Chinese leaders are especially displeased by the referendum that the Crimean parliament has called for March 16 to choose whether the autonomous region should break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
“That would be like Taiwan’s destiny being decided only by Taiwanese,” says Jin Canrong, a professor of international studies at Renmin University in Beijing. That would be anathema to Beijing, which insists that Taiwan – a self-governing island – is an integral part of China.
“China insists that Crimea’s fate should be decided by all Ukrainians,” explains Prof. Jin. “We will not support a Russian occupation of Crimea.”
“China’s foremost priorities, the first things they think about when it comes to interference, are Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan,” adds Ms. Glaser. “The idea of a part of China deciding whether it wanted to be separate is seen as very dangerous.”
“China always looks at these situations through the lens of how they could impact their own security down the road,” she says.
