The rise of Chinese humanitarianism

Due to its long history of Japanese occupation, such developments were always going to be emotionally charged for China, yet as spokesman for China's foreign ministry, Hong Lei reacted as expected by accusing Japan of "damaging regional peace and stability"; the hypocrisy on display was hard to stomach.

China was free to abandon the humanitarian arena, it was free to denounce its international moral responsibility, yet in doing so it had to accept that other states might seek to fill the altruistic void that they had left behind. China had themselves effectively created the circumstances that would justify Japanese constitutional reform. A valuable lesson had been learnt: by exiting the international stage, China had tacitly invited others to enter and assert themselves as global powers.

In 2008, the Sichuan province of China was struck by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake, killing 75,000 people and leaving another 5 million people homeless. China mobilised in a massive national effort combining government funding, military deployment, and a ground-swell of volunteers from across the country.

China did not appeal for international help, and it seems they did not expect it.

They were subsequently and palpably caught off guard when international funds began to flood in regardless. Over 160 countries offered combinations of both aid and resources, including regional countries with whom China had strained relationships including Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea and importantly, Japan.

The decision over whether China would be an integrated member of the international community had been made for them. All future Chinese humanitarian efforts would now be judged, not by previous Chinese behaviour, nor by decades' old conflicts, but rather by the present-day compassion that other nations had shown them.

As such, the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, a region of the world in which China has invested heavily in recent years, is fast becoming an epochal moment for Chinese humanitarianism.

Across 9 different countries, Ebola infections are closing in on 20,000, with death rates closing in on 7000. Whereas previously it might have left the region to its own devices, China has donated $123 million, the Chinese company Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group has supplied thousands of doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine, and troops from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have been commissioned to build a 100 bed clinic to be staffed by 480 Chinese medical workers. This is to supplement the hundreds of Chinese aid workers who have already been deployed.

Although this commitment is still short of the resources donated by both the United States and the European Union, China is now preparing to deploy a further 1000 medical workers in order to fill a significant portion of the 4500 medical workers that the World Health Organisation says is still needed in order to contain the virus. This constitutes the largest ever overseas humanitarian aid operation that Beijing has ever undertaken.

However, if such developments are truly indicative of an underlying growth in Chinese humanitarianism, then the journey will likely not be an enjoyable one. Hypocrisy constantly undermines the best of humanitarian efforts.

The United States found themselves widely criticised for taking too long to intervene in Bosnia, and then subsequently criticised again for intervening when they did. Conversely, they were criticised for intervening in Somalia, then criticised with increased vigour for leaving prematurely. They have drawn criticism for not intervening in Rwanda quickly enough, and also criticism for intervening in Kosovo and Libya too soon. This is the burden of great powers, there are no easy choices, and no easy victories.

However, there are victories. The US response to Spanish atrocities in Cuba, British interventionism against the slave trade, the establishment of 'save havens' in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Tanzanian intervention in Uganda, India in Bangladesh, and international compositions in Sierra Leone, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Ituri (Congo), all represent best practice in the Just War tradition.

When such ethical interventions are undertaken, it is often due to the personal convictions of a few specific actors. After working closely with the French government, Public Intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy explained that the success of the Libyan intervention was reducible to a single factor, "the political will of one man, the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy".

If Ebola in West Africa can be contained to current levels and millions of people subsequently rescued from suffering and death, it might similarly be reducible to a single factor - the political will of the Chinese President Xi Jinping.