UN warned on abuse of intervention right
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-20 06:57

UNITED NATIONS - China warned the West on Monday against any attempt to abuse the right to intervene in the countries where humanitarian crisis occur. the Reuters reported. 

Li Zhaoxing, left, Foreign Minister of China met today at the UN with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, right. The ministers are at the UN as part of the World Summit and the General Assembly marking 60 years of UN activities Monday, Sept. 19, 2005. [AP]

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing insisted in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that the authorization of the Security Council was required for any action to prevent a large-scale humanitarian crisis.

"We are against any willful intervention on the ground of rash conclusion that a nation is unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens," Li said.

Li also expressed opposition to any attempt to change the definition of the right to self-defense in international law to allow for pre-emptive action against new threats such as terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

"We do not support the reinterpretation or revision of the provisions in the U.N. Charter relating to the right of self-defense," he said.

A United Nations summit last week approved the principle that the international community has a "responsibility to protect" civilians where governments are unable or unwilling to do so.

The aim was to prevent repetition of the massacres in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

China, a veto-bearing permanent member of the Security Council, has been the major power prudent on allowing UN intervention in Sudan's Darfur region or censure of the human rights record of Zimbabwe.

It also opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq with Russia, France and Germany.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked last week's world summit to define when a pre-emptive invasion could be justified, but the United States, which asserted the right of pre-emption in its National Security Doctrine in 2002, blocked the initiative.

Close

Taiwan scholar Li Ao arrives in Beijing Heavy rains in Jinan Flight competition in Hangzhou

Today's Top News     Top China News
N. Korea agrees to abandon nuclear weapon efforts         PBOC: Economy too much export-driven         UN warned on abuse of intervention right         White House invites China for G-7 talks         China shares rise on restructuring hopes         172 affected in Fujian cholera outbreak	White House invites China for G-7 talks       Airline signs deal to buy 8 Boeing 787 aircraft       Five on trial over Chinese cockler deaths       PBOC: Economy too much export-driven       UN warned on abuse of intervention right       Accidents spark firework safety push