The PRC`s Policy Toward UN Peacekeeping Operations

Abstract

The People`s Republic of China`s (PRC`s) policy toward UN peacekeeping operations could be divided into three periods. Before 1971, the PRC denied the United Nations` authority to handle international disputes and dispatch peacekeeping troops. From 1971, the year Beijing`s representative took a seat in the UN, to 1981, its foreign policy changed to new alignments with the Third World, and reconciliation with the Soviet Union and the United States. During this period, it chose not to participate in any voting related to peacekeeping operations. Since the 1980s, the PRC has needed a peaceful international environment to accelerate its national development; it thus supported almost all resolutions relating to the establishment of the peacekeeping missions and the extension of the existing ones. Moreover, it has also sent assistance to some troubled countries in carrying out peace work. However its support of peacekeeping operations has not been without reservations, as it has claimed that such operations should be in accord with the principles of the UN Charter and also should not contradict vital Chinese national interests.