Determinants of the Participation of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyze and assess the determinants of the participation of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. The first part of the paper presents the background of the Chinese army’s involvement in the Sudanese states, and the second part shows the specificity of its involvement in UNMISS. The next two parts deal, respectively, with political, military and strategic, and economic determinants of China’s involvement in this mission. The research problem is contained in the question what were the most important determinants of China’s involvement in the UN Mission in South Sudan? The hypothesis of the paper assumes that the main deterimnant of the involvement was the protection of China’s economic interests in South Sudan and East Africa. In addition, by being active in UN peacekeeping missions, China wants to strengthen this organization and create the image of the state responsible for maintaining international peace and security. The Chinese army is also interested in gaining experience in expeditionary mission to increase the ability of military operations in distant theaters. The method of text source analysis was used in the paper.