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China's Conflict Mediation and the Durability of the Principle of Non-Interference: The Case of Post-2014 Afghanistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2019

Miwa Hirono
Miwa Hirono*
Affiliation:
College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

China's efforts in conflict mediation are an important test of the durability of the principle of non-interference. By analysing the approaches and means of China's post-2014 mediation efforts in Afghanistan, this article finds that China's behaviour shows it engages in medium-level interference in domestic affairs, but mostly with the host government's concurrence. This is because of the two forms China's mediation takes. In a bilateral context, China's mediation takes the form of “incentivizing mediation,” in which its economic power, and its omnidirectional foreign policy, provide incentives or leverage for warring factions to come to the negotiation table, but which also lets the warring factions formulate their own roadmap to peace talks. In a multilateral context, China sometimes engages in “formulative mediation,” in which the mediators, not the disputing parties, formulate a roadmap to peace talks.

摘要

中国在冲突调解方面的努力是对不干涉原则持久性的重要考验。通过分析 2014 年后中国在阿富汗进行调解努力的途径和方法, 本文发现中国的行为表明, 虽然中国进行中等程度内政干涉, 但主要还是在与东道国政府达成共识的基础上进行干涉。这是由中国调解采取的两种形式导致的。在双边背景下, 中国的调解采取 “激励式调解” 的形式, 其中它的经济实力和全方位的外交政策为交战各方提供了动机或杠杆来到谈判桌上, 但也让交战各方制定他们自己的和平谈判路线图。在多边背景下, 中国有时参与 “主导式调解”, 和平谈判的路线图是由调解者而不是争议各方来制定的。

Keywords

ChinamediationAfghanistanTalibannon-interferencePakistan中国调解阿富汗塔利班不干涉巴基斯坦
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 239 , September 2019 , pp. 614 - 634
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2019 

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