Council voiced support for the EU’s declaration. Most of the UN Security
Council’s resolutions which imposed sanctions against the Iranian Government
were also supported by China. Overall, China and the EU have entered into very
good cooperation regarding the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. Javier Solana, the
former EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy (CFSP) said that cooperation on the Iranian nuclear issue was a paradigm of
the active strategic partnership between the EU and China.^12
However, China and the EU really held different views on the ways to address
the Iranian nuclear crisis and nuclear crises in other countries; for example, the EU
decided to impose an oil embargo on Iran in early 2012, China criticized the EU for
such a sanctionative measure and believed that such a sanctionative measure would
not help address the issue and called for addressing the Iranian nuclear issue
through dialogue.^13 However, disagreements do not mean lack of good cooperation
between China and the EU; China always participates actively in six-party talks and
joins the EU E3 countries in proposing suggestions and countermeasures for
addressing the Iranian nuclear issue.
5.2.3 Cooperation in Humanitarian Intervention
and Use of Force
After the Cold War, with the emergence of new conflicts and the changing impact
of conflicts on human beings, the principle of non-intervention was challenged.
Western countries advocated a new concept of humanitarian intervention.
Humanitarian intervention means that under special conditions, such as in the case
of an act of genocide or a massive oppression on people, other countries have good
reason to take military action without the approval of the sovereign State.
With respect to responsibilities for humanitarian interventions and the principle
of responsibility to protection, China’s attitude is slightly different from that of the
Western countries; however, inChina’s Position Paper in the 65th UN General
Assembly, China expressed deep concern about people’s lives and the safety of
property affected and threatened by armed conflicts, and urged the parties con-
cerned to abide by the international humanitarian law and relevant UN Security
Council resolutions and provide full protection for people caught in armed conflicts.
Based on this, China believes that the responsibility for protecting civilians rests
first with the government of the country concerned. In the case of offering assis-
tance, the international community and foreign organizations should obtain prior
approval from the recipient country, respect the sovereignty and the territorial
integrity of the recipient country, and should not interfere in local political disputes
(^12) Biedermann ( 2009 ).
(^13) China News Service, Beijing, January 26,http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2012/01-26/3623738.
shtml.
112 C. Weidong