China as a peacekeeper: The case of MINURSO

Zoltán Vörös,István Tarrósy

doi:10.14254/2071-8330.2020/13-4/10

Abstract

This paper examines the development of active Chinese involvement in the UN missions and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of a growing Chinese presence in the multilateral security field. In this research, the authors have used descriptive and analytical methods in addition to their ongoing fieldwork in several Sub-Saharan African countries and China. After presenting China’s UN-policy, drawn upon relevant literature, the authors test a wide range of the UN resolutions and other data, comparing their case study about MINURSO to other UN Peace Operations. Though MINURSO in Western Sahara was not their top priority, China also participated in this mission, to gain valuable experiences for future cooperation. In conclusion, the paper demonstrates China’s global rise in general, and its ascending position as a global security provider, in particular, via its African engagements.

Highlights

Though 1971 was an iconic and fate-turning year for the People’s Republic of China, when it comes to the United Nations membership, China had played a role in the creation of the global organization as one of the founding countries at much earlier stages: “As early as in November 1939, China proposed to Journal of International Studies
Why did China decide to change its mind and what were the reasons behind generally accepting such UN missions? The aim of our study is to prove that their new intention cannot be explained with a single reason and the goal is to understand those multiple motivations via one of their earliest commitments in the frame of MINURSO
The case study we present here on MINURSO is put into a comparative context, as personnel contributions from China are revealed in light of all UN missions, offering the big picture of Chinese involvement

Summary

Introduction

Though 1971 was an iconic and fate-turning year for the People’s Republic of China, when it comes to the United Nations membership, China had played a role in the creation of the global organization as one of the founding countries at much earlier stages: “As early as in November 1939, China proposed to Journal of International StudiesVol., No.4, 2020 establish an effective collective security organization after the end of the war. The Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek played a vital role in the creation of the organization, which was acknowledged by the victorious powers of the Second World War: China was the first country to sign the Charter of the UN in San Francisco (Guihong–Yuqiao, 2011; Lei, 2014) on 26 June 1945. Beijing and the People’s Republic of China (further in the text: China) tried to gain the seat within the UN and the permanent membership status of the Security Council (UNSC), but had to wait until 25 October 1971 when the UN General Assembly passed a resolution with an overwhelming majority (Guihong–Yuqiao, 2011: 974). The outcome was harsh and clear, favoring Beijing, expelling Taiwan from the UN, the decision recognized “that the representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations” (Lei, 2014: 3) and Beijing took the permanent seat in the Security Council as well

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