The dynamics of China’s attitude towards implementing the responsibility to protect in the Middle East and North Africa

ABSTRACT

China’s attitude towards the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has evolved from resistance to acceptance with reservations. Having endorsed R2P, China reinterpreted the emerging norm and put forward four principles of implementing R2P, namely target state consent, regional consensus, non-coercive means or coercive means authorized by the UN Security Council, and no precedent-setting, which are followed when implementing R2P. This article explores China’s change in attitude towards R2P and its different attitude on different R2P-related issues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as the key target area of R2P, arguing that the combination of socialization mechanism and localization mechanism explains a series of China’s behaviours including its change of attitude towards R2P, reinterpretation of R2P and stance on implementing R2P on specific issues. Through examining the Darfur issue, the Libyan crisis and the Syrian crisis, the article demonstrates how China supports or opposes the implementation of R2P under the combined influence of socialization and localization.

KEYWORDS:

• Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
• Chinese Foreign Policy
• security governance
• Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Department of West Asian and North African Affairs is established under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, which oversees relations with countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The department is responsible for 23 countries, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, South Sudan, and Mauritania. What the Chinese government refers to as the Middle East is the Middle East and North Africa. See ‘Waijiao Bu Xiya Beifei Si Zhineng Jieshao,’ [‘Introduction to the Functions of the Department of West Asia and North Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,’] 26 January 2012, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/wjdjt1/2012-01/06/content_14395712.htm (Access 17 March 2020).

2. We would like to thank the reviewer for suggesting this point.

3. We would like to thank the reviewer for suggesting this point.

4. On humanitarian crisis-related issues, R2P norm is more salient than non-intervention norm, meaning that China is socially pressured to support the implemantation of the R2P in these cases.

5. China voted in favour of Resolution 1547, 1574, 1585 and 1588, but these resolutions did not authorize actions.