China and United Nations Security Council Sanctions
Chapter 5 uses the dataset of sanctions-related resolutions tabled at the UNSC from 1971 to 2016 to present a correlation analysis that examines the extent to which expectations derived from the ‘rhetoric-based’ hypothesis align with China’s voting behaviour at the UNSC. Thereafter, it examines the backgrounds, debates, and outcomes concerning three case studies: UN sanctions against the DPRK (2006-2016); Syria (2011-2016); and Guinea- Bissau (2012). It examines whether the hypothesised constraining role of China’s sanctions rhetoric or one of the competing explanations best accounts for the outcomes in each case. It finds that China’s sanctions rhetoric had frequently prompted its decision-makers to act or vote in ways that were not the most favourable to China’s immediate political and economic interests.