Chinese Weapons Head Home - For the Moment

Too often the world fails to intervene in situations of mass atrocities or take measures to reduce the possibility of atrocities from occurring. The failure of the international community to scramble radio signals in Rwanda that were blasting recruiting messages to Hutus urging them to join the mass killing of Tutsis during the genocide is one such example.

However, today there is good news. Today a Chinese ship loaded with weapons bound for Zimbabwe was forced to return to China because it could not find a port in southern Africa to unload the arms and transport them to land-locked Zimbabwe. This success was the result of collective efforts by unionists, human rights activists, and religious leaders who urged both legal and political interventions to stop the shipment. The Durban High Court initially responded by barring the Chinese vessel from docking in South Africa which helped compel other states in southern Africa to prevent the vessel from docking in their territory. The U.S. government also had a role in mobilizing the quick response by dispatching its embassy staff in southern African nations to pressure governments to not allow the vessel to dock. U.S. intelligence agencies also helped track the vessel’s movements.

This success is an example of the emerging norm of “responsibility to protect” in action. Indeed, after refusing to release the results of the presidential election in Zimbabwe, the Mugabe government has mobilized its security forces and youth militias to terrorize the opposition. Human rights abuses have been widely reported across the country since the election and it was rightly thought that if the Chinese weapons made it to Zimbabwe they would be turned against civilians opponents to the Mugabe government, resulting in mass atrocities. Because the Mugabe government has neglected its responsibility to protect civilians in Zimbabwe, southern African governments (with U.S. involvement) intervened to prevent the Chinese made arms from reaching the country.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the weapons shipment is “normal military product trade between the two countries”. Such a statement speaks volumes for where China’s concerns apparently lie, especially since China is well aware of the Mugabe regime’s history of committing gross human rights violations and its increased abuses since the contested presidential elections were held.

This story is likely not over. After all, the weapons could easily be loaded on an aircraft in China and flown to Zimbabwe. The southern African countries that surround Zimbabwe should immediately send communiqués to the government of China stating that no aircraft is allowed to enter their airspace if it is carrying weapons bound for Zimbabwe. The situation has also compelled the UK government to say it will seek a Security Council arms embargo on Zimbabwe. If an embargo passed in the Council, it would obligate all governments to not ship arms to Zimbabwe, and, in turn, help prevent more bloodshed in a country that is already in a deep human rights crisis. However, China’s status as a powerful permanent member of the Security Council gives it the ability to veto any proposed arms embargo, greatly complicating the possibility to see such a measure passed.

The Zimbabwe arms shipment debacle is almost certain to intensify efforts to pressure China to reform its arms trade policies. China desperately wants to avoid more public embarrassment for its record of shipping arms to repressive governments around the world. But this is unlikely to happen unless it makes a public commitment to halt arms transfers to governments such as Zimbabwe and Sudan in addition to making its arms transfers records fully transparent.