China will hold commemorative events to mark the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence — a foreign policy concept that was first articulated in an agreement with India in 1954. The ceremony in Beijing will be chaired by Prime Minister Li Qiang. President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote address. The event has been given a forward-looking focus, with the theme of “From the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind”. THE FIVE PRINCIPLES The Panchsheel Agreement, formally known as The Agreement on Trade and Intercourse with Tibet Region, was signed on April 29, 1954. The preamble of the Panchsheel Treaty lay down five guiding principles:
  1. Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty;
  2. Mutual non-aggression;
  3. Mutual non-interference;
  4. Equality and mutual benefit; and
  5. Peaceful co-existence.
THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF PANCHSHEEL The word Panchsheel traces its origin to the Buddhist concept of Pañcasila, which describes the five moral vows of Buddhism: Abstinence from:
  • Murder,
  • Theft,
  • Sexual misconduct,
  • Lying, and
  • Intoxicants.

PANCHSHEEL & NON ALIGNMENT

  • 29 countries of Asia and Africa took part in the Bandung Conference of April 1955, and signed a 10-point declaration that co-opted the Panchsheel.
  • NAM was founded with the signing of the Brioni (Brijuni) Declaration on July 19, 1956 by Nehru, Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia.
    • The Brioni Islands are in the northern Adriatic Sea, and now a part of Croatia.
  • The first NAM Summit in Belgrade accepted Panchsheel as the “principled core” of the grouping.
CHINA’S FOREIGN POLICY TODAY Panchsheel was visualised as an agreement that promoted peaceful coexistence between India and China, but its heart was ripped out by the India-China War of 1962.
  • China has made claims over territories in the South China Sea, and has repeatedly engineered hostile situations with much smaller neighbours to its east and south-east.
  • China’s relationship with the United States has been hostile, as it has mounted a trade and diplomatic challenge to American dominance in various parts of the world.
  • Since 2020, India & China are engaged in a bitter border standoff in the Ladakh region. There is no solution to the situation despite multiple rounds of talks between the military leaders.