A difference between my comment and yours is that mine (in this case) doesn't claim to know things that it can't possibly know.
(You seem obsessed with laws, as if they possess value and worth in and of themselves, when really they are a very high latency sidechannel of society and power)
it is called international law.
Just a phone call: "A nice little country you have there, wouldn't it be pity if something happened to it?"
Just as the real example: it was reported that the existing trading arrangements were in question for some countries in Latin America.
I imagine they haven't. The bully who demands your lunch money hasn't hit you in the face either. The threat is merely implied.