China’s Role in Conflict Mediation

Deepening understanding of China’s participation in international conflict mediation and its impact

Project Info

Stimson’s China Program is conducting an ongoing research and dialogue project that examines China’s emerging role in conflict mediation globally. The project explores China’s foray into conflict mediation during a period of evolution in China’s multidimensional role on the international stage and engages critical Chinese actors on potential cooperation in conflict mediation in Myanmar, Afghanistan/Pakistan, India/Pakistan, the Korean peninsula, Africa, and the Middle East.

Included in the project’s first compilation of works are thorough analysis of how great powers engage in mediation, commentary on how China’s policies fit within its decades-old non-interference policy, an investigation into Beijing’s mediatory role between India and Pakistan, and detailed best practices for military ceasefire monitoring.

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Commentary ·

Conflict Mediation with Chinese Characteristics: How China Justifies Its Non-Interference Policy

In 1955, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai advocated for and supported the adoption of a ten-point “declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation” at the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia. One principle from the final communiqué, the “abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country,” has since been enshrined as one of China’s cornerstone foreign policy principles.