The (Ex) Washington Realist

I find it interesting what the French and Chinese reactions to Kosovo say about their views of international relations and the world.

The French view is that Sunday's declaration is a temporary reshuffling of borders and administrative responsibilities prior to the complete absorption of the Balkans into the European Union, after which, as Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner maintained, Serbia and Kosovo will be reunited within the framework of the EU. The idea that the EU allows states to safely "break down" because their component parts remain in the EU, as well as the notion that the EU permits "greater" versions of nations to exist--and I have in mind here the fact that the EU has returned to the Hungarian nation--not the Hungarian state!--most of the territories lost by Trianon--in that Hungarian citizens of Romania and Slovakia are freely connected to their ethnic kin in Hungary as well as having certain minority rights guaranteed by Brussels. So in the French view there is no contradiction between recognizing Kosovo and maintaining Paris' historic friendship with Serbia--because by 2015 one might expect that the Serbs of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia will all be part of one Europe.

China took a tentative step toward the position maintained by the United States when its UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, proclaimed today that "The issue of Kosovo status does have its special nature." But China continues to see the world as comprised of territorial-intact states. Therefore, Wang continued: "Nevertheless, to terminate negotiations, give up pursuit of a solution acceptable to both parties and replace such efforts with unilateral action will certainly constitute a serious challenge to the fundamental principles of international law." So this seems to suggest that China's position will be--Kosovo's declaration of independence does not end the process at all.