China, Responsibility to Protect, and the Case of Syria: From Sovereignty Protection to Pragmatism

Gegout, Catherine; Suzuki, Shogo

Abstract

Will the rise of China, an authoritarian, party-state with a poor record of protecting its citizens' human rights, undermine humanitarian intervention? This question has been particularly pertinent since China's 'assertive turn' in foreign policy. Drawing on the case of Chinese reactions to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, we argue that China's attitude toward humanitarian intervention remains ambiguous and contradictory. While China has at times prevented the UNSC from threatening sanctions on Syria, it has not necessarily denied that a humanitarian crisis exists. We show that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is beginning to act more as a 'norm maker' than 'norm taker', and is offering its own vision of humanitarian intervention, coined as 'responsible protection'.

Citation

Gegout, C., & Suzuki, S. (2020). China, Responsibility to Protect, and the Case of Syria: From Sovereignty Protection to Pragmatism. Global Governance, 26(3), 379-402. https://doi.org/10.1163/19426720-02603002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 27, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 17, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 17, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 16, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 18, 2021
• Journal: Global Governance
• Print ISSN: 1075-2846
• Electronic ISSN: 1942-6720
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 379-402
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/19426720-02603002
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3576759
• Publisher URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/gg/26/3/article-p379_3.xml