The role of international intervention in managing refugee crises: lessons from Vietnamese and North Korean refugee cases in China

Abstract

This article examines the role of international intervention for refugee protection by conducting a within-case analysis of two similar groups in China: Vietnamese and North Korean refugees. It argues that states make refugee policy decisions based on cost-benefit calculations, but this self-centered behavior can be mitigated by international intervention. Without amending national laws and official policies, the international community can improve refugee protection in authoritarian regimes through external assistance and support that shares and reduces the burden on host states and persuades state behavior toward refugees. The evidence of this study further suggests that international intervention matters, but the formats of intervention are even more critical to improving a state’s refugee protection, especially in dealing with a powerful authoritarian state like China in the context of the Post-Cold War era. More specifically, positive inducements are preferable than sanctions and criticism to address China’s human rights violations regarding North Korean refugees because the strategies help China to leverage its power in the Korean peninsula and the Asian region more broadly by providing them enough political coverage to save its face from allies and constituents and maintain close diplomatic relationships with its all neighbors, including the two Koreas.