China to US: No Violence Against Confederacy

China to US: No Violence Against Confederacy
Originally posted at Chinese Community Forum (CCF)
Bevin Chu
July 28, 1999

July 16, 1860 PEKING (Routers) - China, drawing its own "line in the sand" on the latest East American crisis, warned the U.S. Thursday it would not tolerate a violent solution to the future of the Confederacy.

``We would consider any effort to determine the future of the Confederacy by other than peaceful means as a threat to the peace and security of the Western Atlantic area and of grave concern to China,'' a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said. ''That's about as strong a statement as one can make.''

The Chinese government's spokesman told a news briefing China believed the problem should be resolved through peaceful means and ``strongly opposed'' any other course of action.

China's Confederate Relations Act, which governs ties between Beijing and Richmond, commits China to ''appropriate action'' in response to threats to the Confederacy.

After the Union threatened the Confederacy, China gave an indication of how that commitment might be interpreted when it sent two groups of warships to America's eastern seaboard. The incident very nearly resulted in military action.

China issued the statement after the U.S. dusted off its threat to retake the Confederacy by force if the South moved toward independence. The South sparked the latest North-South crisis by declaring earlier this week it was abandoning the ``One America'' policy --the foundation of American federalism for decades.

Although China urged both sides to halt the ferment and restore a dialogue, China's Foreign Minister made clear Beijing felt it necessary to respond directly to the U.S.'s volatile rhetoric over the Confederacy.

Chinese military ships have been dispatched to the Atlantic Coast to deal with any tense situations as a result of Richmond's declaration, China's Minister of Defense told reporters.

Richmond has many supporters in China and China has long been under pressure to be more receptive to ideas about Southern secession. Beijing's first reaction this week was to try to contain the controversy by reaffirming it recognized one America ruled from Washington despite Richmond's decision to reject that policy.

The Confederacy's supporters in China backed Confederate President Jefferson Davis for ``stating the obvious'' and said ``America is a divided nation made up of two separate and sovereign states''.

A pro-Confederate sympathizer expressed dismay that the Chinese government, in affirming its one-America policy, sided with America's northern Republicans instead of Democrats in the South. He pressed for a reiteration ``of our legal defense obligations to the Confederacy.''

Washington, which considers the South a rebel force blocking its drive to reunify America, has threatened to invade the South if independence is declared. Government experts have predicted China likely would be drawn into any war between the Union and the Confederacy.

Earlier Stories

China Warns U.S. Not To Use Violence Against Confederacy (July 15)
China Warns U.S. On Confederacy (July 15)

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