China adds valid voice to shaping international order
Phil C.W. Chan says China's assertion of its sovereignty should not be automatically seen as a sign of its aggression, or as acting outside international law and threatening global order
Following China's vetoes of United Nations Security Council action over Syria, Susan Rice, the now former US ambassador to the UN, expressed disgust about China impeding protection of civilians and enabling mass killings.
On whistle-blower Edward Snowden managing to travel from Hong Kong to Moscow, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused China of meddling.
Through its territorial claims in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, China also stands accused of aggression towards its neighbours.
Central to these accusations is the principle of state sovereignty. In Western academic and policy circles, sovereignty has become a word almost dirtier than war. The reality is that sovereignty is as important as it ever has been.
The United States invariably justifies its domestic and foreign conduct on the basis of its interests and its laws. In its messy relationship with the European Union, the United Kingdom emphasises British interests, British laws, and British sovereignty. And as China lays claims to islets in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam assert their territorial sovereignty.
But many assume that, in exercising sovereignty, China will ignore international law and even threaten international order. Such an assumption overlooks how international law moderates China's exercise of sovereignty.