The feeling was that the (insert insult here) tilted International Court would be eager to indict soldiers and Blackwater for activities in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention interesting enhanced interrogation and rendition CIA actions. So… the rules don’t apply to them. (see Bolivia reference above)
In the past , China has said it supports the ICC but for some tiny issues… But if they host Putin as a visitor, then they are treating the idea of the ICC arrest warrants with contempt?
See
Perhaps that is why the Chinese President is going to Moscow this week, rather than Putin fullfilling his promise to visit Beijing.
Xi’s visit to Moscow has been in the works for weeks. It is definitely not a response to the warrant as such.
Now you and I don’t know how long the ICC has been working on a warrant nor what the major powers may have been told about (or secretly gotten intel about) the work before it was announced to the public.
Nice cite. But I also would not characterize China’s stated objections as tiny issues. They are THE fundamental issues over which China and the USA refused to ratify the Statute. Namely that it was creating an authority they could not control which had a vague and open-ended enough remit that it could be used to hamstring a lot of what passes for routine violent statecraft around the world.
I will also note that the cite was written 15 years ago speaking of events and decisions taken 25 years ago. All of China’s foreign policy statements and actions, whether diplomatic, military, or economic, have taken an uglier, more impatient, more “Us first; screw you” position in the years since 1997, and especially since Xi came to power ~10 years ago.
China is also expert at saying one thing with a straight face while intending to do something completely different. The USA and the Europeans are almost as two-faced, but they aren’t as skilled at hiding it. Nor do Western governments have nearly the ability to put out exactly one single approved story line and stick to it. On this side there’s always some dissenting voice, some leak, some counter-narrative. The Chinese have ways of preventing that.
The most powerful countries in the world have always been reluctant to sign treaties that would reduce their power in any way, even if they never even intended to use that power, and the limitations imposed by the treaty are things they want (though, of course, also if they do intend to use that power). I think it’s as simple as “why would they?”. Any benefit the treaty would give, the most powerful nations can already get that benefit without the treaty.
My read of the situation is that Xi wants to play both sides of the fence. He want’s to be Russia’s friend, to help and get around western sanctions so that it creates favour for China in Russia. Meanwhile, it is well aware that jumping too heavily into the Russian camp would aggravate the west more than they have already - risking slowly losing those markets that provide the jobs than create peace at home. So say lots, do as little as possible, pretend to be peacemaker, yada yada…
Yes, he’s not going too arrest Putin, but he probably also prefers Putin not make him have to make that decision publicly. Putin probably wants to stick safely close to home anyway.