Posted by Ihor Solovey on March 29, 2000 at 03:38:26:
In Reply to: Ukraine and China posted by Phil Fijalkovich on March 28, 2000 at 06:51:03:
: Thanks for that much. Do you, or anyone, happen to know of Ukraine's relations with China? I haven't been able to find any, but following the Ukraine's ties with Russia, I would imagine that the Ukraine is not too close with China,
Here's what Ukr. government says about these relations:
"Ukraine and China. The People's Republic of China is one of the world's universally recognized political and economic leaders, whose role and importance will in the future steadily increase in all spheres of international life. At the present stage China is Ukraine's most active partner in the Asian-Pacific region.
The priority position of the Chinese direction of our state's foreign policy is primarily determined by:
· important Chinese political and economic influence in the world and, first of all, in the APR;
· the PRC's possibilities to influence international events on global and regional scales;
· a certain congruence of both states' economies and technical standards;
· the attractiveness of the Chinese market for a wide assortment of domestic goods.
It is worth mentioning that China traditionally conducts a pragmatic foreign policy, using well-developed methods of balancing the contradictions of other states' interests. Recognizing the growing gap between well-developed states and developing ones, China strives to consolidate the so called "Third World" toward its stance, particularly those states that had earlier oriented themselves toward the Soviet Union.
The following factors promote China's increased interest in Ukraine:
· Ukraine's deliberate "non-bloc" foreign policy, which promotes our state's political presence in Europe and in the world;
· the permanent contradictions between the West and the East that force Beijing to search for European allies that are able to help decrease the level of conflict;
· an opportunity to coordinate actions in international organizations, in the UN particularly, in order to reach mutual foreign policy goals;
· Beijing's intention to keep "the Ukrainian card" at hand in its bilateral relations with Russia. Beijing regards the existence of a sovereign Ukraine as a barrier to the restoration of the Russian Empire, and also as an opportunity to exercise certain political pressure on Moscow;
· the opportunity for the effective use of Ukraine's considerable economic potential, primarily in such important branches as machine-building, the military-industrial complex, high technologies (particularly space technology), new materials, radiation security, etc.;
· the search for new markets for products of Chinese enterprises that do not yet find sufficient demand in economically developed states.
At present, China remains as one of Ukraine's largest external economic partners. We are objectively interested in the development of trade and economic cooperation with the PRC. Our interest is determined by the presence of a large Chinese market for machine-building, metallurgical and chemical industries, aviation, shipbuilding, etc.
In its turn, China also regards Ukraine as a promising and important economic partner. Beijing bases its interest on the thesis of the complimentariness of Ukrainian and Chinese economic interests. This both provides the opportunity to fill the Ukrainian market with Chinese consumer goods and to use Ukrainian advanced technologies according to the needs of programs currently under development in China (rocket-space, aviation, marine, etc.).
Beijing regards Ukraine as an important European state that does not aspire for regional domination or military strategic superiority. China plans to use its cooperation with Ukraine for the purpose of ensuring its economic and political penetration into the East and Central European region.
In its turn, in the process of the development of relations with the PRC, Ukraine observes the positions of the Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations (January 1992), the Joint Kyiv Declaration (September 1994) and the Beijing Declaration on the Intensification of Friendship and Cooperation (December 1995), which contain the basic principles of bilateral relations in the political, economic and cultural spheres.
The leaders of both states have on many occasions underlined the high level and the dynamic development of Ukraine-China relations, which are characterized by mutual trust. An example of this trust is Ukraine's support for the PRC's position in the UN's Committee on Human Rights in 1996. Despite the pressure of the US and of several EU states our country based the resolution of this issue on the interests of long-term Ukrainian-Chinese cooperation, which is in keeping with the national interests of the Ukrainian state.
The Chinese side is also grateful to Ukraine for its understanding and unwavering support of the "one China" principle and for its recognition of the PRC's government as the sole legal government of China.
It sho