Bridging the EU-China’s gap on the Rule of Law?

Abstract

As the European Union (EU) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrate 40 years of bilateral relations, the partnership continues to develop inter alia with the launch of a new Legal Affairs Dialogue, announced during the 17th EU-China summit (June 2015). As Rule of Law approaches greatly differ between the PRC and the EU and contain unbridgeable conceptual gaps, the new Legal Affairs Dialogue might further contribute to changes in the EU’s strategy of external Rule of Law, faced with the PRC’s own narrative and approach to the Rule of Law. On the other hand, the new dialogue might offer room for agreement and convergence on various global, bilateral and domestic levels. Recent domestic adjustments in the PRC and a manifest interest in reforming its legal system at a time when the EU is itself re-thinking its strategy of external rule of law offers a great potential for significant exchanges and an opportunity to bridge the Rule of Law gap between the PRC and the EU.