Above All, Look after Yourself: Conflict Mediation with Chinese Characteristics

This article was originally published as Jabin T. Jacob. 2025. ‘China’s ‘National Rejuvenation’ Above All, Look after Yourself: Conflict Mediation with Chinese Characteristics’. India’s World. 2 Sept.

Big powers not only start conflicts or take sides in them, they can sometimes act as mediators trying to end a conflict.

As hard as it may be to believe today, the US has been involved in settling at least 11 conflicts since 1990, including in Central America, Northern Ireland,  the former Yugoslavia and Sudan. Unsurprisingly, and as is characteristic of a big power, it was party to at least some of these conflicts. The latest case being Washington’s attempt to bring about an end to the Israel-Iran conflict in June while also bombing Iranian nuclear sites. That the former is undermined by the latter has been pointed out by many, including China–the next superpower on the horizon. What, however, is China’s record as a mediator, and how do we understand its motivations?

China’s foray into the role of mediator in civil wars or international conflicts is of fairly recent vintage. Its Cold War era policy of ‘leaning to one side’ meant that it was, like the US and USSR, more often a party to conflicts than involved in the business of settling them.

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