China’s decision to veto a condemnation of Syria’s regime at the United Nations Security Council is just the latest signal that illustrates the need for a fundamental change in Chinese foreign policy. The question is no longer whether officials in Beijing will abandon the principle of noninterference in other countries’ affairs to protect their expanding interests around the globe. The question is when.

China joined Russia in vetoing last weekend’s resolution partly for fear that backing the U.N.’s rebuke of a government’s brutal suppression of its people may come back to haunt China itself, given its treatment of Tibetans and of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang autonomous region.