Separating Intervention From Regime Change? China’s Diplomatic Innovations at the UN Security Council Regarding the Syria Crisis, 2011 - 2017

Abstract

China's response to the recent Syria crisis at the UN Security Council represents a crucial case in China's approach to intervention in that it breaks from China's recent practice of becoming more permissive regarding intervention. Instead, China actively worked to ensure that a firm line was drawn to separate intervention from foreign-imposed regime change. It did so by employing three diplomatic innovations: exercising multiple, successive vetoes; expanding discourse to delegitimize intervention as “regime change” by Western powers; and engaging in norm-shaping of the international community's “responsibility to protect” post-intervention. Together, these three innovations highlight China's desire to firmly separate the intervention norm from that of regime change. Using a variety of primary sources, the article also draws insights from interviews with foreign policy elites in Beijing, New York and New Delhi.

中国在联合国安理会就近年叙利亚危机的回应, 是中国干预取向的重要案例。在叙利亚的危机中, 中国采取有别于过往的作风, 在干预问题上变得比较宽松。中国积极地介入以确保在干预与政权更替之间有一条明确的界线, 其外交上的创新有三个方向: 行使多次及连续的否决权; 建立反对西方强国干预等同「政权更替」的论述; 以及参与规范国际社会在干预后的保护责任。这三项创新共同突显了中国愿意把干预的惯例与政权更替区分出来。本文使用各种一手资料, 以及引用了北京、纽约和新德里外交政策专家的见解。