Opium Wars Opium Wars The Opium Wars were two wars in the mid-19th century involving China and the British Empire over the British trade of opium and China's sovereignty. The clashes included the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The wars and events between them weakened the Qing dynasty and forced China to trade with the other parts of the world. In 1820, China's economy was the largest in the world, according to British economist Angus Maddison. Within a decade after the end of the Second Opium War, China's share of global GDP had fallen by half. In
Responsibility to protect in China in East Timor very shortly after. China has also provided a strong regional dimension to its implementation of R2P, see for example the cases of Darfur and Myanmar. China thwarted proposed Security Council resolutions aimed at ending the atrocities that had already claimed nearly 300,000 civilian lives in Darfur. There were two resolutions involved: This sought to impose travel and financial sanctions on four alleged war criminals, impeding the peace process. Here, China objected on the ground that sanctions only work to victimize civilians and due to their coinciding with the Abuja peace talks; sanctions could forego any potential positive