In a scathing Jan. 6 editorial, “When the U.S. ‘Puts Maduro on Trial,’ the World Also Puts the U.S. Under Scrutiny,” China’s Global Times daily warns the United States that it, not Venezuela, now stands accused in the docket before nations of the world. “Historical experience has repeatedly shown that replacing rules with sheer power doesn’t bring lasting stability,” it warns. The Jan. 5 emergency UN Security Council meeting on the U.S. attack on Venezuela demonstrated that “the overwhelming majority of countries are unwilling to return to a Hobbesian international jungle governed by the law of the strong preying on the weak.”
The editorial contrasts the outcry in the UN Security Council hearing to the simultaneous arraignment of the shackled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a New York Court.
“If Washington seeks to intimidate and deter others through the public spectacle of humiliating a foreign head of state, it has clearly underestimated both the shared consensus and the bottom lines of the international community….
“Under whatever pretext—without Security Council authorization and in the absence of conditions for legitimate self-defense—the use of military force against a sovereign UN member state, including the abduction of its head of state, constitutes outright aggression….
“In essence, this is unilateral hegemonic behavior that fundamentally challenges, and even negates, the universal binding force of international law.
“What such practices undermine is the institutional foundation of the international system. Sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and the prohibition of the threat or use of force are the pillars upon which the post-WWII international order rests. If certain countries are allowed to decide, based on their own judgments, `who is guilty, who should be punished, and how punishment should be carried out,’ international law will be reduced to a selectively applied tool….
“The U.S.’ brazen military actions against Venezuela, followed by threats toward Colombia, Cuba, and other countries, once again warn the world that imperialist thinking and hegemonic practices remain the most destructive forces undermining global peace and stability. The United Nations is the core of the current international system, and international law is the fundamental norm governing international relations.
“The more turbulent and uncertain the global situation becomes, the more necessary it is to return to the UN framework and manage differences through political solutions such as dialogue, negotiation and mediation to prevent escalation. When Maduro was put on trial, the U.S. was also standing in the dock of the international community….
“No country can act as the international police, nor can any country claim to be the international judge. The international community does not need hegemonic politics based on `might is right,’ nor does it require an `imperial order’ that places itself above other nations. Only by adhering to true multilateralism and upholding international law, as well as the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, can the international system avoid descending into a jungle logic where the strong prey on the weak, allowing the world to move toward a more stable and just direction.”
