On the evening of November 11, Mr. Liang Xi, a famous international jurist in China, gave a lecture entitled “Crisis of International Law” to the graduate students of the school in the lecture hall of the Chemical Building. Mr. Liang first introduced the international social background of the Iraq war and pointed out that globalization not only expands to the economy but also infiltrates into all aspects and has laid a deep mark on international life. Although globalization has further promoted interdependence among nations, from a political perspective, the world seems to be more anarchic (split) than ever. From the perspective of historical development, he analyzed the Middle East region where Iraq is located. It has always been a "war-prone area". And Mr.Liang strategically judged: the reasons for this Iraq war happening at the beginning of the new century and who will lead the war and so on although all have some contingency, but the Iraq war itself will come sooner or later, it is almost a historical necessity.

He comprehensively analyzed the provisions of Article 2(4), 51, and 39 of the Charter, and considered that Article 51 is the main clause of the self-defense system, and Article 2(4) is the premise clause of the main body, No. 39. Article is the final clause of the trunk. These three articles are very similar to a group of "troika" that promotes the system of self-defense rights. They are indispensable. The "preventive" attacks and "preemptive strike" strategies ( practices) in the United States are only the logic of the strong, and do not comply with the relevant provisions of the "self-defense" clause, and therefore violate international law. According to the "structural balance theory", if an international organization has lost its balance in the international structure, it will inevitably decline. By examining the actual operation of the United Nations, especially the Security Council, he believes that the United Nations has reached a "three-way intersection." With regard to the Iraq war, the 15 members of the Security Council have serious differences on the motions. They are neither underlined by Europe and the United States, nor by the East to the West or the South to the North, or by different values or ideologies. The sign, but a particularly intricate situation, split into three groups that advocated the use of force, advocated to continue to verify, and tend to be vague, can be described as falling apart. Compared with the past collisions of the Security Council (including the long-term confrontation in the Cold War), the latter was only because the use of the veto was often unable to pass the bill and form a deadlock. However, the former was taking the action of force prohibited by the Charter before the decision-making process was completed ( The verification is still in progress). This shows how fragile the authority on the Council’s paper (charter) is in the face of powerful member states! However, Mr. Liang insisted that although the United Nations suffered a major setback, the pessimistic disappointment was groundless.

The long and tortuous history of the international community has shown people in countless facts: society has always stepped back and forth in two steps and developed in a "spiral" way. Despite the undeniable weakness of the United Nations and the urgent need for reform, it remains the most important and representative international organization in the world to date; although some of the obsolete provisions of the Charter need to be amended, the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter are the most basic principles of international law that are universally recognized as non-destructive and universally effective. The pragmatic leaders of the country, with their foresight and insights, will be able to reach a compromise on issues such as the transformation of the United Nations and the international legal order, thereby resolving the ice, revitalizing the United Nations and playing an irreplaceable role to improve and strengthen the international legal order. Whether the crisis can be turned around will be a severe test of the will of the United Nations and mankind. He also stressed that reform is the only way for the United Nations to restore balance and put forward eight suggestions. Professor Yu Minyou, Associate Professor Song Lianbin and Associate Professor Huang Deming from the Institute of International Law attended the evening's lecture. Professor Yu also made a short comment. (Kong Yuan finishing)