As many in the West embrace the ideal of the world with progressively weaker—or even obsolete—states, China’s legal entrenchment of national unity may look odd or counterintuitive, perhaps anti-historical, considering China’s own keenness to engage with the world through trade and wider cooperation. In reality, China’s declared pursuit of social cohesion speaks to underlying issues of national identity and self-perception affecting the contemporary fabric of most societies. China’s move, however, reveals significant tensions with the requirements of international law for any viable national concept to be sustainable.