Dr. Courtney Fung discussed her new book
China and Intervention at the UN Security Council: Reconciling Status. The book addresses the puzzle of China’s varied response to intervention at the UN Security Council. Dr. Fung argues that status is an overlooked determinant in understanding China's decisions, even in the apex cases that are shadowed by a public discourse calling for foreign-imposed regime change in Sudan, Libya, and Syria. The book posits that China reconciles its
status dilemma as it weighs decisions to intervene: seeking recognition from
both its intervention peer groups of great powers
and developing states. Understanding the impact and scope conditions of status answers
why China has taken certain positions regarding intervention and
how these positions were justified. Foreign policy behavior that complies with status, and related social factors like self-image and identity, means that China can select policy options bearing material costs.
China and Intervention at the UN Security Council draws upon an extensive collection of data, including over two hundred interviews with UN officials and Chinese foreign policy elites, participant observation at UN Headquarters and a dataset of Chinese-language analysis regarding foreign-imposed regime change and intervention. The book concludes with new perspectives on the malleability of China’s core interests, insights about the application of status for cooperation, and the implications of the status dilemma for rising powers.