Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has unmasked serious contradictions in China’s foreign policy. In theory it would have triggered China’s staunch opposition to foreign interference in sovereign states.
In reality, the non-intervention principle coexists awkwardly with Beijing’s aversion to Western-led blocs like NATO. The resulting position is contradictory in a way that will be very familiar to African policymakers: Chinese condemnation of ‘Cold War thinking’ that seems, well, rooted in Cold War thinking.
