Briefing Paper

People’s Republic of China

Introduction – Zeyu Zheng

Key Points – Collective

Background Information – Cheyanne Perryman

Committee on Sovereignty – Zeyu Zheng

Committee on Security – Khadija Ibrahim

Committee on Terrorism – Glenda Ramirez

Committee on Human Rights – Collective

Committee on Economics – Brenda Nguyen

Committee on Energy – Emily Gay

Committee on Ukraine – Cheyanne Perryman

Important Issues – Collective

Works Cited – Collective

A. Introduction

The delegation of the People’s Republic of China is well aware of the current state of the international community. With Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the globe is divided by the controversial issue of sovereignty—it is hard to pick a stance—as well as other problems that are sparked by this clash of interests. As the delegation of a fast developing country in East Asia, we would like to stick to our principles of peaceful coexistence, remain neutral, urge other nations to follow suit, and promote non-violent negotiations among the nations. During this conference, we would like to be a mediator to solve the conflict by bringing everyone onboard for collaboration. The world today should not, and cannot, tolerate unilateral decisions that disregard the interests of others. Rather, we must work together towards a feasible resolution that would solve, or at least alleviate, conflicts in, and have extended beyond, the region by means of negotiation.

B. Key Points

1. Committee on Sovereignty

The People’s Republic of China follows the guidelines of peaceful coexistence and condemns the formation of power blocs’ coalition that infringe upon other countries’ sovereignty. Russia has been an ally of our nation, and its annexation of Crimea puts us at a conflicting position where it is hard for us to determine the legality of this move.

2. Committee on Security

The separatist movement has raised concerns regarding the security in Tibet and Xinjiang. These separatists have trained in Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban and al Qaeda and pose security threats that resort in violent attacks such as bombing, assassinations, and street fighting. We feel as though we should take preventative measures by increasing militarism.

3. Committee on Terrorism

China’s Uighur Muslim accused for recent terrorist attacks against citizens as well accused of alliance with ISIS. President Xi Jinping has addressed the issue stating if necessary violent actions will be taken to put an end to the attacks and maintain peace within the nation.

4. Committee on Human Rights

Humanitarians are concerned about the lack of freedom in the region due to Russia’s control. Currently, Crimea’s government is subject to Russian judicial system and has no rights in governing its own territory. People in this region is experiencing lack of human rights due to the suppressions.

5. Committee on Economics

Russia has become largely dependent on China as an ally due to Western sanctions, and both nations have been cooperating together based on mutual benefit. Given the fact that China’s economy is gradually slowing and such agreements are not permanent, the economy-based collaboration seems unclear for future negotiations.

6. Committee on Energy

The $400 billion agreement between China and Russia guaranteeing a major portion of China’s gas supply for approximately the next five years. This deal was very beneficial to us because it not only secures a part of our gas import for a good amount of time but it also helps Russia attempt to stabilize their economy.

7. Committee on Ukraine

With the recent invasions Russia has done throughout the Ukraine and other countries, these acts will only lead to greater conflicts with these countries and possibly war. Seeing the current status of Russia’s government and country as a whole we believe that it will benefit Russia the most if they were to just refrain from their original plans to avoid having to end up being in war and possibly leaving them in even more debt than they are already.

C. Background Information

As China continues to be a major player in the global community it is important to note that history plays a key role in the advancement of China over the past few decades. Chinese civilization begins with Pangu, a mythical being credited with creating the universe and teaching the Chinese people how to communicate and the skills to survive. The Xia Dynasty was the first area of rule in china and dates back to ca. 2000-1500 B.C. The civilization during this era was based on agriculture, mainly hunting and animal husbandry. This period lead to the development of the Chinese writing system and the use of bronze metallurgy, which became an important part of the Shang dynasty’s economy.

The Shang dynasty followed the Xia period and lead to four key contributions to Chinese civilization: the invention of writing; the development of a stratified government; the advancement of the bronze technology and the use of chariots and bronze weapons in warfare. The writing system allowed the government, a hierarchy, to become organized on a larger scale and allowed documentation to occur. The collapse of the Shang dynasty and rise of the Zhou Empire, which lasted 800 years, contributed greatly to the growth of China’s economy, politics, science and modern day culture.

The first imperial era of China, also known as the Qin Dynasty, lead to great developments such as the Great Wall of China and the reduction of aristocrats in government. This was also a time of regulations and purging the new dynasty from the views of the past. Many of the notable outcomes of the Qin Dynasty are southward expansion, the development of philosophy and literature, religion and the growth of the government and military. The Han dynasty, the second imperial era, was a period of peace and prosperity. Many notable works of literature, artwork and technology arose from time of tranquility.

As China entered the nineteenth century, the empire had to face the growing threat of the west and the lack of industry to support the rapidly growing population. Trading with Western countries lead to the Opium War which severely damaged the Chinese economy and more foreign influence in Asia. The Taiping Rebellion further hurt the empire and led to major divisions between the Chinese people. After the Opium wars and divisions within the country, Empress Dowager engineered the Tongzhi Restoration, with the intention of restoring China to its former glory by utilizing Western methods. During this period China was going through a series of reforms aimed at recovering from the incidents of the past.

The failure of the reform movements and the uprisings from the Boxer Rebellion lead to many Chinese citizens realizing that significant changes must be made in order to make China strong again. The Republican Revolution of 1911 called for overthrowing the Manchus and ending foreign hegemony over China, strengthening nationalism and bringing China to its former glory. This Rebellion lead to renaming the nation the Republic of China and was the final stage in the emergence of modern China.

The Republican Revolution of 1911 marked the beginning of modern day China. The New Culture Movement called for social and political theories ranging from complete westernization of China to socialism that one day would be adopted by China’s communist ruler. This movement also rekindled the fading cause of the Republican revolution, increased Chinese nationalism and helped the communist party grow. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally established and the transition into socialism helped China recover from the many wars and internal conflicts that halted the nation’s profession. The People’s Republic of China has been focused on rebuilding the nation and restoring China back to its former glory since the 1950s which is why the government works so hard.

D. Issues

1. Committee on Sovereignty

The People’s Republic of China is a sovereign state governed by a single-party—the Chinese Communist Party. The Party proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 after years of domestic conflict. Although the Chinese society to that point has been governed by traditions and restricted values, the country is gradually adapting to the Western standard civilization. With the past few decades of economic reforms and globalization, a Chinese styled civil society has emerged in which all civic activities are interlinked. The Chinese political system has become increasingly consultative in which more citizens are involved in politics (Wacker). With a recent change in leadership, our top priority remains to be sustaining stability in the nation such that no chaos would be created during the process.

We regard ourselves as a third world developing country; as such, we would like to concentrate on peace and development rather than aligning with any major power blocs. This does not equate to unilateralism; we welcome friends and allies, but we are against the idea of forming coalitions in attempt to gain power by means of suppression throughout the world. The majority of our foreign policy decisions are made with the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence that originated from China’s leadership in 1954. These principles are one, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity; two, mutual non-aggression; three, non-interference on each other’s internal affairs; four, quality and mutual benefit; and five, peaceful coexistence (Nathan).

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence serve as an alternative to United States values of limiting the rights of sovereign states. We regard all nations in the world as equal and uninfringeable states, be they Western or non-Western, rich or poor, democratic or monarchic; they should be free of any outside influences. We believe that our Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence explain why the United States should not impose any measures on weaker nations and force them to follow American values. This set of rules asserts that we do not act out of our boundary, and with morality as one of our guidelines in regard to international relations, we will follow our principles at all times.

Currently, our foreign policy can be interpreted based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and we believe that no states have the right to interfere another nation’s domestic affairs. We believe that any disputes in global affairs should be solved by peaceful negotiation, and each state’s right cannot be violated by any foreign influence. We would abstain or even vote against any measures taken by the United Nations to enforce sanctions and issue interventions. In simple terms, we oppose countries that have power to intervene other nations, and fight to protect all nations’ sovereignty.

Following our principles of foreign policy, we remained neutral on Russia’s annexation of Crimea. We believed that People’s Republic of China should not take a side in this conflict and would like to see peaceful negotiation between the two sides. We abstained from the United Nations Security Council on a resolution that was drafted for the purpose of condemning Russia (Repnikova). Annexation could lead to local violence and conflict that cause instability on the peninsula.

We believe that in terms of regional issue, the annexation of Crimea would lead to influx of immigration into Russia. Given the large population of ethnic Russians in the region, we remain neutral in their decision to intervene in Ukraine’s internal affairs (Bayer). We believe that Russia does not have the right to intervene in another nation’s domestic affair. Nevertheless, we believe that Russia can reserve the right to protect Russians in Ukraine to prevent perceived abuses or crimes on behalf of the government (Lally). In regard to the controversy of Russian sending troops to regions outside of Ukraine, on the one hand, we would like to declare that we are one hundred percent against the idea of intervening another country’s sovereignty. On the other hand, if Russia deems its action as a necessity, China would like to declare our neutrality on this issue.

We believe that the current borders of Russia and the post-Soviet states should remain as it. China agrees with Russia that there are historical evidence that demonstrate the logicality behind its annexation of Crimea. We think that Russia’s decision does not violate our own Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. We believe that Russia’s move is justified by the historical border agreement.

There is a growing lack of freedom in the region due to Russia’s control, but it could be seen as a necessary step to initially prevent chaos and violence. Freedom of expression and belief are limited due to restrictive Russian laws. Crimea’s government is subject to Russian judicial system, which lead to its lack of independence (“Freedom House”). To smoothly transition through the initial annexation period, special tactics could be applied in order to accomplish the tasks of conversion.

2. Committee on Security

In China, post- Cold War Era, our main security concerns include conflicts with the United States as well as territorial disputes in a number of countries, including the dispute over Kashmir with India, the Nansha Islands (Spratly in English) with Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, some of the Xisha Islands (Parcel in English) with Vietnam, Diaoyu Islands with Japan, the Taiwan issue and SLOCS. Out of these threats those that most impact us are the conflicts with Taiwan because of its relations with the United States, the Nansha Islands, and sea lines of communication (SLOCS). We are also concerned about its energy supply line which part of the reason includes its SLOCS and it also ties along with our foreign trading, SLOCS are crucial to our economic development but are not of great urgency. The nature of the Taiwanese conflict is a life or death issue to our government and has many uncertainties it also could be a conflict between us and the United States and it is a long-term challenge with immediate and constant political implications. While the Nansha issue is not as crucial as the one in Taiwan, it is complex due to the number of claimants along with the possible involvement of external players, also because of its relation to energy security with substantial economic interests (Yang).