Transparency and Transparency-related Litigation in Chinese Foreign Affairs

Abstract

Abstract Chinese foreign affairs have become more transparent over the past decade. This trend, initially and largely, was induced by external pressures—especially China’s World Trade Organization accession negotiations—and China is expected to exhibit, in conducting foreign affairs, greater transparency as it exerts growing international influences. It is also enhanced by the improved rule of law and national governance in China, including the Open Government Information Regulation, China’s first freedom of information (FOI) law, adopted in 2007 and amended in 2019. The rising nationalism in China also has played a growing role in this regard. The records of FOI applications and FOI applications-related litigation indicate that, although the public has considerably increased their concerns over how China’s government conducts foreign affairs, especially those that rouse bitter historical memories among the Chinese people, they are not active in using legal means to push Chinese foreign affairs to be more transparent. Furthermore, they are frustrated by the courts in China, which tend to broadly interpret the meaning of ‘acts of state’ and therefore dismiss the relevant cases. In addition, the Chinese Community Party, an overarching political accountability mechanism in China, while having the potential to ensure that the Chinese government conducts itself in an accountable manner, often constitutes a major hindrance to the greater transparency of Chinese foreign affairs.