CHINA AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL LAW

     CHINA AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Author: Pooja Shrivastav, IME Law College

Abstract

Modern Chinese law in its forms, structure and methodologies exhibit many western characteristics. This article discusses about China’s reaction against COVID-19 pandemic under International Law implement by UN   and also discusses about China’s formal legal system.  There has also been development in the Public Law areas and significant implication for protecting human rights (written into the 2004 constitutional amendment) since china’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), which impose requirement on transparency and accessibility of law, reasonable administration of law and impartiality, independence and effectiveness of judicial review.

Introduction:

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For almost three decades after the PRC’s establishment, there was a perception that a formal legal system for many areas of national life was unnecessary since the economy was centrally controlled and conflicts could thus be resolved through mediation or administrative means without reference to legal rights and obligations. However, the “Reform and Open Door” policy in the late 1970s, which began China’s current rapid economic development and initiated the ongoing transition to a market economy, has had enormous implications for the country’s legal development. The 1980s and 1990s saw massive and rapid enactment of laws, including many environmental laws, regulations, and rules.

The rebuilding of China’s legal system over the past few decades has generally abandoned ideological requirements and embarked on a massive effort of law transplantation from western legal systems and internationally recognized practices, especially matters related to economic management, as a tool for attracting foreign investment. Modern Chinese law in its forms, structure, and methodologies thus exhibits many western characteristics, though it is generally modeled on the European Continental civil law tradition in its legislative techniques.

There has also been development in the public law areas and significant implications for protecting human rights (written into the 2004 Constitutional Amendment) since China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), which imposes requirements on transparency and accessibility of law, reasonable administration of law, and impartiality, independence, and effectiveness of judicial review.

Current and future status of China in International Law:

The current and future status of Taiwan china’s engagement with non –proliferation regimes, its emerging approach to arctic policy; its use of exit bans; its record in the U.N. security council and its participation in the provision of global public goods such as U.N. peacekeeping mission and public health efforts including its engagement with the world health organization during the COVID-19 global pandemic. First china exhibits a flexible and functional approach to international law that enables it to benefit from and exploit the international order without the need to advocate fundamental changes to the letter of the law in most areas.

The meaning of international legal rules can be vague illusory and open to dispute in critiquing china “compliance” with international law we should be careful not to romanticize the clarity and moral force of existing rules or the necessarily “liberal” nature of international law. Legal regimes did not prevent china’s action in Xinjiang or Hong Kong for example international law can be used to advance a wide range of normative objectives.

As Ian Hurd has written, it is “the language that states use to understand and explain their acts  goals and desires” and a domain within  which the normal conduct of politics and contestation takes place “140 china’s approach generally bears this out second china is  increasingly active in seeking to shape legal norm in ways that advance its interests .in some areas such as the law of the sew and human rights china is pressing the limits of credible legal interpretation and seeking to build coalitional support for position that could erode the strength of US preferred norms.

In other areas, including climate change and the governance of cyberspace Beijing for now seems content with legal ambiguity that preserves its freedom of maneuver. third despite its malleability and limitation international law can also shape the context for the choices of Chinese leader and there legitimating or delegitimating it is a constitutive element of china’s interests on important issues such as trade and the south china sea where law define the stakes of competition. in general Beijing wishes to be seen by the international law. thus a central question for U.S. strategists is not simple how to preserve a “rule based” international order as such but instead how to reshape and reinforce various international legal rules account for the complex challenges outlined above under president Donald Trump the united states has pulled back from international law and institutions- from impeding the WTO to withdrawing from the Paris agreement and the U.N. Human Right Council.

Despite Trump’s damaging actions his presidency offers a reminder to shed illusion about the inevitability of an ever-deepening liberal international order built on law. Law is no panacea there are important limits to its role in “authoritarian” approaches to international law policymakers should bear in mind that in the long view international law has always been amendable and even facilitative of authoritarian governance.

Conclusion:

We conclude that recent history of china and its association with the international law and its mixed record in several contemporary issue areas such as trade, maritimeand territorial dispute HongKong human rights climate change and the emerging spheres of cyber security and autonomous weapons. China need to strengthen system of international competition and multipolarity among nation. In response to the china challenge the United States in concert with allies and partners should reengage clear eyed with international law in an effort to shape rules that are more robust and more effectively enforced in the coming era.

Reference:

1) European institute for Asian studies written by Tim Ruhling

2) Chinese legal system and introduction by Jingjing Liu

3) China current and future status in international law by Robert D. Williams