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Letters | Why China must not stay neutral as Armenia and Azerbaijan clash again
- By supporting Azerbaijan, China can show that territorial integrity is the red line for all countries and send an indirect warning to Taiwanese separatists who try to collaborate with foreigners
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I refer to your analyst Daniel Bochkov’s article “As Armenia and Azerbaijan clash, where will China stand?” (October 3).
Mr Bochkov believes that China will be neutral in the escalating Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over the long-disputed Karabakh region solely because of economic interest in the Caucasus. I strongly hope China will not remain neutral.
The dispute between the two Caucasian countries goes back four decades. In the 1980s, when the Soviet Union was collapsing, nationalists in Armenia sought to expand its territory by encroaching on Azerbaijan’s. The puppet regime of the self-proclaimed “republic of Nagorno-Karabakh” can be compared to the pro-Japanese Manchukuo in northeast China from 1931-1945. After the Karabakh war in the 1990s, Armenia occupied at least 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s territory and displaced 1 million innocent citizens from their homeland.
Supporting Azerbaijan is supporting justice. Given the historical background, China must show solidarity with Azerbaijan and condemn Armenia’s action, for two reasons.
First, as a widely recognised global power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China should maintain international law, especially since it knows the pain of foreign invasion. If China now neglects its duty simply because of economic reasons, that would hurt its reputation.
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Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of targeting cities outside conflict zones
Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of targeting cities outside conflict zones
Also, China’s support for Azerbaijan would send an indirect warning to Taiwanese separatists who try to collaborate with foreigners. China is facing problems similar to Azerbaijan’s: some foolish Taiwanese politicians, like the separatists in the Karabakh region, think that foreign nations will help defend their regime. By supporting Azerbaijan, China can show that territorial integrity is the red line for all countries, which is in line with the principle of its Anti-Secession Law.
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