Chinese Participation in the International Legal Order: Rogue Elephant or Team Player?

Abstract

Among the many extraordinary developments attendant to China's transition from the Maoist era, one of the most significant - both for China and the rest of the world - has been the growing participation of the f People's Republic of China (PRC) in the global community. Emerging from an isolation which was by turns self-imposed and externally enforced, the PRC has rapidly embraced a wide range of international T relations, including membership of most international organizations, in [ stark contrast to its situation before the late 1970s. For many reasons, this increasing involvement with other nations has necessitated far greater f attention to international law than was common during the Maoist period. At the level of public international law, many more treaties have f been concluded; with respect to international business, a burgeoning sector of China's domestic economy now depends on long-term foreign j investment fostered by protective regulations. Far-flung foreign trade and Chinese investments abroad have even forced the PRC government to f litigate actively as a defendant in foreign courts, a prospect almost unimaginable 20 years ago.