Chinese Administrative Law in the Northeast Asian Mirror

Abstract

Over the past two decades China has been building a system of administrative law that in many respects resembles what one would expect in any modern legal system. This process has received a good deal of outside attention, which is not surprising given the role administrative law plays in structuring relations between the state and civil society, a crucial issue in China. Most of the existing commentary on China's administrative law is entirely China-focused, which is also not surprising given China's importance in the world. This paper broadens the discussion of China's administrative law by examining it through the lens of administrative law as it has developed in jurisdictions which neighbor China, namely Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The thesis is that China shares important similarities with its Northeast Asian neighbors in terms of its industrialization and development policies, and in terms of its political situation, and that these similarities will affect the path of administrative law in China, as they affected the path of administrative law in China's neighbors.