nor stand in the way of peace. Therefore, though China recognizes the principle of
the responsibility for protection, China insists that prudence should be exercised
when judging the capability and willingness of a government to protect its citizens.
China is also very cautious in using force to resolve international conflicts, and even
takes a skeptical attitude towards the use of force by the international community
for resolving conflicts within a country. China gives priority to resolving conflicts
by peaceful and diplomatic means, and requires that attempts be made in using all
possible peaceful means before taking any military actions.
EU countries have contradictory attitudes towards the use of force. In fact, it is
hard to ensure that there are unified, consistent positions and methods within the EU
on the issue of the use of force. On the recent Libyan issue, different EU member
states actually held different views on using force against Libya. However, in
general, the EU’s skeptical attitude towards the use of force gets nowhere near that
of China.
In spite of disagreements on many aspects about the use of force, China and the
EU still have some consensuses. One prominent and important consensus is that
both sides stress that the UN Security Council is the only legal body eligible for
authorizing the use of force against a country; lack of authorization by the UN
Security Council denies resort to force except in self-defense. In practice, given that
the EU has no unified policy concerning the use of force, whether China and the EU
cooperate on this issue or not is still unclear.
Overall, so far, China and the EU have cooperated in the UN Security Council,
but the scope and degree of cooperation are still very limited.
5.3 Causes for Limited China-EU Cooperation in the UN
Security Council
China-EU cooperation in the UN Security Council is limited mainly due to the
following aspects.
5.3.1 Unequal Statuses of Both Sides in the UN Security
Council
The statuses of China and the EU in the UN Security Council are different. China is
a full member of the UN and a permanent member of the UN Security Council;
moreover, China enjoys veto power in the UN Security Council and is fully
qualified to participate in the various activities and decision-making within the UN
Security Council, while the EU is merely an observer of the UN and is only invited
as a regional international organization to participate in activities of the UN
Security Council. Meanwhile, the EU’s powers and functions in common foreign
and security policies are limited; the EU’s capability for coordinating and
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