Did the People's Republic of China know that the Russian Federation was about to recognise the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics?
2022
Abstract
In my contribution I will examine the question of whether the People's Republic of China (PRC) knew that the Russian Federation (RF) would recognize the independence of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) or not. My contribution will be based on the press conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC.
I will utilize text analyses of these press conferences where I will use my own translation. Specifically, I will analyze press conferences that took place between 18 February 2022 and 22 February 2022.
My textual analysis implies that the PRC had not been probably informed in advance about the RF's intentions.