Slobodan S. Popović

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC, China) unflinching stance throughout the ongoing Russian-Ukraine conflict has raised many eyebrows and provoked diverse reactions. The lingering question in different quarters is why China acts as it does and with what intentions. Once again, one troubling international turmoil was laid at the Chinese doorstep, almost turning into “China’s dilemma”. The starting assumption is that PRC’s conduct shows an unswerving strategic orientation toward “building a community with a shared future for mankind” (建设人类命运共同体) through persistent diplomatization. Diplomatization is a distinct process of containing grave security problems by making them a matter of diplomacy. Current analysis falsifies this starting proposition through conceptual inquiry into key actions and documents in China’s diplomatic and political relations with Ukraine in the period from the establishment of the strategic partnership in 2011 up to the head-start of diplomatization of the convoluted Russia-Ukraine conflict by the Global Security Initiative in April 2022. A strong diplomatization pattern is found, showing that China’s stand regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a case of diplomatized security concerns as a trigger for the head-started diplomatization of global security. China consistently pursued conceptualization and persuasion to dispel insecurities and contain warfare and ensuing global disturbances through conversation and deliberation focused on boosting major joint leaps for transforming obsolete modes of governance structures to becoming aligned to the manifest direction of epochal change. Furthermore, China’s global security outlook is firmly anchored in the national security concept.

This paper shall explore the reasons that triggered China to boost its security and economic influence within the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO) as a tool for embracing international challenges. By doing so, China is not just sharing the burden of providing international stability and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but exerting its influence in the process. Analysing the proposed subject, it will be demonstrated that China faces numerous obstacles whilst trying to insert the “Chinese characteristics” within the geopolitical order, geo-economics distribution of wealth and international security architecture. Instead of being perceived as a responsible stakeholder, China`s ambitious initiatives can, additionally, stir the China Threat Theory in the international community. This paper shall be consisted of two parts. The first part will tackle China`s growing footprint within the UNPKO from the end of the Cold War onward. The second part will explore the reasons that triggered China to swift its role within the UNPKO. Both global and domestic reasons will be analysed too.

Cilj rada je da putem analize Mehanizma 16+1 i prisustva Kine u regionu predstavi izazove sa kojima se suočava Republika Srbija (Srbija), kao država koja kao svoj glavni spoljnopolitički cilj naglašava članstvo u Evropskoj uniji (EU), a ipak nastavlja svoje tradicionalno dobre, srdačne i pragmatične odnose sa Narodnom Republikom Kinom (NR Kina). Put do postanka članice EU je, kao što je već poznato, opterećen brojnim idealstičkim zahtevima i uslovljavanjima, sa realističkim očekivanjama, što, uslovno rečeno, politiku neutralnosti Srbije može preorjentisati ka fleksibilnim aranžmanima koje nudi NR Kina. Sa jedne strane, NR Kina kako na bilateralnom, tako i na multilateralnom nivou Srbiji vrlo profesionalnim metodama sa razumevanjem konteksta datog trenutka, nudi aranžamane, koji sada već rizik uspešnosti evrointegracija podižu na viši nivo. Sa druge strane, EU koja Zapadni Balkan posmatra kao deo svoje interesne sfere i u geopolitičkom i u geoekonomskom smislu, ne pokazuje blagonaklon stav ka kineskoj agilnijoj regionalizaciji ovog dela sveta. Prelamanje različitih interesa sa ciljem kreiranja uslova i načina poslovanja i spoljno-bezbednosnih odnosa dodatno usložnjava poziciju Srbije. U prvom delu rada ćemo istraživati institucionalni razvoj Mehanizma Kina + 16 zemalja Centralne i Istočne Evrope, kako bismo mogli da uvidimo koje ciljeve NR Kina vremenom želi da ostvari među državama članicama već pomenutog Mehanizma, pa samim tim i u Srbiji. U drugom delu rada, analiziraćemo poziciju Srbije. Pozicija Srbije je usložnjena usled pritiska EU, zbog narastajućeg ekonomskog i političkog uticaja NR Kine.