Comparative Research Of Legal Regulations Of Military Evacuation Of Citizens Overseas Of United States And China

In the current international society,an open policy held by most countries cause frequent movement of their nationals,which stimulates the economy,meanwhile,poses potential security risks to citizens oversea.When wars,riots or natural disasters happen in a host nation,government of which may lose the significant capacity to protect safety of people on its land,the embassies and consulates in the host nation may make effort to take measures to protect its nationals on host nation’s territory.One of the measures is launching evacuation operations.Evacuation operations will be taken when the security situation sharply decline in host nation.The last resort of evacuation is military evacuation.The safety of life and property of Chinese citizens overseas is the very concern of Chinese government.In February,2011,civil war outburst in Libya which made big threat to the safety of Chinese citizens in Libya.The chairman of China,Hu Jintao and Prime minister,Wen Jiabao,promptly made the decision of military evacuation and then sent marine ship and military transport crafts to Libya,assisting personnel in embassy and consulate to evacuate over thirty thousand Chinese nationals.In 2015,the coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes to the Houthi forces in Yemen,Xi Jinping,the chairman of China,and Li Keqiang,the prime minister,gave the order to organize military evacuation operation in Yemen for Chinese citizens as well as over ten other countries’ citizens,which was highly praised by other countries.These practices are the first step of military evacuation of citizens overseas of Chinese government and in the future,it will be going on.However,the legal regulations of the operation are in absence.It is necessary for the Chinese government to build practical legal system in this area.As to the United States,the federal government has launched the operation on rescuing nationals overseas several times,which are known as noncombatant evacuation operations(NEOs).NEOs are conducted to assist the Department of State in evacuating US Citizens,Department of Defense civilian personnel,and designated host nation and third country nationals whose lives are in danger from locations in a foreign nation to an appropriate safe haven.The NEOs play a great part for helping United States’ government to protect the safety of citizens overseas.Meanwhile,American citizens are not the sole evacuees in NEOs,the designated host nation and third country nationals may also receive the help of United States’ government.Not only the raging military strength and numerous military base overseas of America contribute to successful practice of NEOs,the systematic legal regulations guarantee the smooth execution of NEOs.The thesis intends to make contrast of Chinese and American legal regulations on military evacuation of citizens overseas and take enlightenment for the improvement of Chinese legal system in this area.The Department of Defense published the Joint Publication 3-68: Noncombatant Evacuation Operation setting forth joint doctrine to govern the activities and performance of the Armed Forces of the United States in operations and providing the doctrinal basis for interagency coordination and for US military involvement in multinational operations.The Noncombatant Evacuation Operation includes almost all important aspects in NEOs.For the command relationship,during NEOs the US ambassador,not the combatant commander or subordinate joint force commander,is the senior United States’ Government authority for the evacuation and,as such,is ultimately responsible for the successful completion of the NEO and the safety of the evacuees.The geographic combatant commander may decide to create a joint task force to conduct a Neo or may task a component commander to conduct the NEO.As to rules of engagement,it may be such that the joint task force should be prepared to protect personnel from a wide variety of threats while not necessarily having the authority to preempt hostile actions by proactive military measures.Some other questions like evacuee identification,US embassy and military plans,employment procedures,multinational noncombatant evacuation operation are also defined in the publication.China has not established legal system for military evacuation of citizens overseas yet.Depend on the lack of practice experience,it may be difficult to establish systematic regulations promptly.However,for a military operation overseas,it is important to get support from domestic legal systems.The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and other laws,such as National Defense Law,can provide the military evacuation of citizens overseas of legal foundations.The military evacuation of citizen overseas needs regulations on evacuees,command relationship,embassy,consulate and military plans,as well as employment procedures.What’s more,for the possibility to execute multinational evacuation operations with other countries,it is necessary for the government of China to fill up the deficiency in the area.The military evacuation of citizen overseas and other countries’ citizens is favorable to build a positive figure in international world,and the lack of legal regulations is on the other side harmful for the execution of operations and may lead to the damage of a country’s image and disapprove of the similar operations.