Antiliberal Interventionism in Chinese Foreign Policy

Serafettin Yilmaz and Olga Daksueva

World Affairs, 2025, vol. 188, issue 3

Abstract: Liberal interventionism invokes humanitarian imperatives to justify interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states. China, however, has emerged as a vocal critic of this paradigm, advancing a distinct antiliberal interventionist stance rooted in three core principles: absolute sovereignty, state consent, and no‐strings‐attached developmentalism. This article examines how Beijing operationalizes these principles to pursue an illiberal interventionist agenda that both insulates its authoritarian governance model and promotes a global order divergent from liberal norms. While rhetorically opposing liberal interventionism, China simultaneously engages in subtle and pragmatic forms of intervention, particularly in the Global South, where its development model appeals to regimes resistant to Western conditionalities. Ultimately, China's antiliberal interventionism functions as both a defensive shield and a potent offensive tool in its broader ideological and geopolitical contest with the United States. 自由主义干涉主义援引人道主义原则, 为干涉主权国家内政辩护。然而, 中国已成为这一模式的公开批评者, 并提出了独特的反自由主义干涉主义立场, 其根源在于三大核心原则:绝对主权、国家同意和不附加任何条件的发展主义。本文探讨北京如何运用这些原则来推行非自由主义干涉主义议程, 既保护其威权主义治理模式, 又推动一种背离自由主义规范的全球秩序。中国在口头上反对自由主义干涉主义的同时, 也采取了微妙而务实的干预形式, 尤其是在全球南方国家, 其发展模式吸引了那些抵制西方条件限制的政权。最终, 中国的反自由主义干涉主义在其与美国更广泛的意识形态和地缘政治竞争中, 既充当了一道防御盾牌, 也成为了一项强有力的进攻工具。 El intervencionismo liberal invoca imperativos humanitarios para justificar la injerencia en los asuntos internos de Estados soberanos. Sin embargo, China se ha convertido en una crítica vehemente de este paradigma, promoviendo una postura intervencionista antiliberal distintiva, basada en tres principios fundamentales: soberanía absoluta, consentimiento estatal y desarrollismo sin condiciones. Este artículo examina cómo Pekín materializa estos principios para impulsar una agenda intervencionista iliberal que aísla su modelo de gobernanza autoritaria y promueve un orden global divergente de las normas liberales. Si bien se opone retóricamente al intervencionismo liberal, China participa simultáneamente en formas sutiles y pragmáticas de intervención, particularmente en el Sur Global, donde su modelo de desarrollo resulta atractivo para regímenes que se resisten a las condicionalidades occidentales. En última instancia, el intervencionismo antiliberal de China funciona tanto como escudo defensivo como potente herramienta ofensiva en su contienda ideológica y geopolítica más amplia con Estados Unidos.

Date: 2025
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