Professor Karen Alter discusses China’s silence on Russia in the article “Putin’s War: It is China’s Move”

As the war in Ukraine continues, professor and political scientist Karen Alter questions why the Chinese government has been unusually silent regarding the conflict.

Alter is the Norman Dwight Harris Professor of International Relations and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern. Her article examines the political history between the two nations and asks important questions about China’s motives in the war relative to their standing as a global superpower.

According to Alter,

“In 2020, Chinese silence is so deafening precisely because Chinese leaders have been loudly espousing an ideology that unlike the U.S., China will be a benign, responsible world leader. The sincerity of Chinese statements is being shredded before our very eyes, and Chinese leaders do not appear to care.”

“China is an avowed fan of “win-win” international agreements and leading through multilateralism. Is China’s leadership vision really one of great power hegemony, replicating the very practices China has long condemned, where not all states are actually considered sovereign equals? If Putin’s war continues to Putin’s desired completion, we will have our answer.”

Read more in Northwestern Now’s article, “Putin’s War: It is China’s Move.”