China's New Flexibility on Foreign Intervention

A single man, the fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi sparked the Arab Spring with his self-immolation in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid in January 2011. Since then, leaders in Beijing have grappled with how to handle the political fallout of the democratic youthquakes reverberating across the Middle East and North Africa.

China’s initial response was to adv…