From international to China-centred transnational approaches
WTO litigation, ICJ participation, arbitration, mediation, Chinese courts, and forum design.
China's dispute-settlement practice is not simply pro- or anti-adjudication. It is forum-specific: active in WTO litigation, cautious toward compulsory maritime adjudication, increasingly interested in mediation, and attentive to China-centred transnational mechanisms.
关于菲律宾所提南海仲裁案管辖权问题的立场文件
PRC position rejecting jurisdiction in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines.
Central text for China's consent-based approach to international adjudication in maritime disputes.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 'Position Paper on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration' (7 December 2014).
UNCLOS Annex VII award in the Philippines-China arbitration.
A central reference for China's rejection of compulsory adjudication in a major maritime dispute.
South China Sea Arbitration (Philippines v China), Award (12 July 2016).
WTO dispute settlement page for a China-related trade dispute or comparator dispute in China's trade-law practice.
Useful for mapping China's use of rules-based economic dispute settlement over time.
WTO, 'DS413: dispute settlement case page'.
Example of China presenting itself as a mediator in regional dispute settlement.
Example of China presenting itself as a mediator in regional dispute settlement.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 'China facilitates Saudi-Iran rapprochement' (2023-03-10).
Advisory proceedings on climate obligations under international law.
A live site for China's legal arguments about development, responsibility, and multilateral treaty regimes.
Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change, ICJ advisory proceedings.
Maritime legal order becomes central to later Chinese practice.
One country, two systems becomes a major sovereignty and legal-order issue.
Macau becomes the second SAR governed under one country, two systems.
China enters the multilateral trade law system.
The State Council presents an official interpretation of central authority and Hong Kong autonomy.
China sets out objections to arbitral jurisdiction.
39 items
Asia Pacific Law Review / 2026
Assesses how public participation, transparency, sustainable development, and amicus mechanisms in the EU-China CAI could affect legitimacy in investment governance.
European Journal of International Law / 2026
Shows how China's internalization of UNCLOS concepts helped create incentives for later maritime rights assertion and confrontation in the South China Sea.
Asian Journal of International Law / 2026
Studies Hong Kong's final appellate court as it works with international law while operating under Basic Law interpretation and Beijing's constitutional shadow.
Asian Journal of International Law / 2026
Develops a typology for Taiwan Constitutional Court citations to international law and shows movement toward deeper rights-based engagement.
Tsinghua China Law Review / 2025
Proposes a multi-tiered SCO investment dispute mechanism combining consultation, mediation, quasi-judicial procedures, and enforcement coordination.
Tsinghua China Law Review / 2025
Uses a utility-function model and tax case data to explain when Chinese courts defer and when they apply stricter scrutiny in tax disputes.
Peking University Law Journal / 2025
Compares the CICC with other cross-border dispute-resolution mechanisms and evaluates its institutional role and limits.
Chinese Journal of International Law / 2025
Surveys Chinese public international law practice in 2022 across treaties, legislation, official statements, international organizations, and judicial decisions.
Columbia Journal of Asian Law / 2025
Analyzes moralizing and Party-sanctioned keywords in Chinese civil judgments to explain both top-down political signals and bottom-up judicial legitimation.
Tsinghua China Law Review / 2025
Assesses China’s amended foreign-related civil procedure rules through SEP parallel-litigation concerns, comity, procedural fairness, and forum shopping.
Tsinghua China Law Review / 2025
Traces China’s arbitration-law reform on setting aside international awards and compares draft revisions with UNCITRAL Model Law alignment.
University of Pennsylvania Asian Law Review / 2025
Uses frontline judge perspectives to evaluate the Fifth Judicial Reform, finding progress in service delivery but continuing Party-judiciary entanglement.
Chinese Journal of Comparative Law / 2025
Reassesses Chinese veil-piercing practice under the new Company Law and explains why judicial trends differ from other corporate law settings.
Chinese Journal of International Law / 2024
Compares how great powers including China approach international law formation and contest primary legal rules.
Chinese Journal of International Law / 2024
Surveys Chinese private international law practice in 2023, including cross-border civil and commercial legal developments.
Si Lin - Effective or Symbolic - Asia Pacific Law Review - 2024
Article reviewing the performance of the China International Commercial Court.
William S Dodge - China's Foreign State Immunity Law - Chinese Journal of Transnational Law - 2024
Article introducing China's restrictive foreign state immunity law to English language readers.
Journal of Private International Law - The Jurisdiction of China International Commercial Court - 2024
Article on the substance and drawbacks of CICC jurisdiction.
Asia Pacific Law Review / 2024
Examines the distinctive Chinese configuration of authoritarian legality and its implications for legal institutions and governance.
Asia Pacific Law Review / 2024
Introduces varieties of authoritarian legality as a comparative frame for understanding legal institutions under authoritarian governance.
Sean David Yates - New International Commercial Courts - Journal of International Dispute Settlement - 2024
Article on international commercial courts and delocalized adjudication.
Ignacio de la Rasilla and Congyan Cai eds - The Cambridge Handbook of China and International Law - Cambridge University Press - 2024
Major handbook surveying China's engagement across international law fields.
Ming Du - International Investment Law and the Rule of Law - Washington International Law Journal - 2024
Article on international investment law and China's domestic rule of law.
Chinese Journal of Comparative Law / 2024
Uses Evergrande to examine Chinese corporate law and the relationship between private enterprises, state influence, and economic governance.
Chinese Journal of Comparative Law / 2024
Empirically studies whether Chinese judges follow wrongly decided precedents and what that reveals about precedent-like authority in China.
University of Pennsylvania Asian Law Review / 2024
Analyzes the 2021 Mainland-Hong Kong insolvency arrangement, its limited use, and options for improving recognition and cooperation.
University of Pennsylvania Asian Law Review / 2024
Examines Chinese Civil Code rules on liquidated damages, adjustment mechanisms, delayed performance, and concurrent contractual damages.
Chinese Journal of Comparative Law / 2024
Uses long-video and short-video copyright disputes to analyze China’s evolving copyright limitations in the AI era.
Yifeng Chen - International Institutions as Forms and Fora - European Journal of International Law - 2023
Article on Chinese international organizations law scholarship and institutional concepts.
Chinese Journal of Comparative Law / 2023
Traces how forum non conveniens moved from Chinese judicial practice into formal law and what that means for cross-border litigation.
Cai Congyan - On the International Law-Based International Order - Social Sciences in China - 2023
Article contrasting international law-based order with rules-based order discourse.
Xiangzhuang Sun - The China International Commercial Court - Chinese Journal of Transnational Law - 2024
Article on the origins and development of the CICC.
Chinese Journal of Comparative Law / 2023
Empirically studies Chinese wrongful death awards for pain and suffering and what they reveal about judicial valuation of loss.
Mark McLaughlin - The Geoeconomics of Belt and Road Disputes - Asian Journal of International Law - 2023
Case study of BRI disputes through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Cora Chan and Fiona de Londras eds - China's National Security - Endangering Hong Kong's Rule of Law? - Hart Publishing - 2020
Edited volume on Hong Kong national security and constitutional order.
Tom Ginsburg, 'Authoritarian International Law?' (2020).
Launch bibliography item for scholarly review and expansion.
Cai Congyan, 'The Rise of China and International Law' (2019).
Launch bibliography item for scholarly review and expansion.
Gregory Shaffer and Henry Gao, 'China's Rise: How It Took on the U.S. at the WTO' (2018).
Launch bibliography item for scholarly review and expansion.
Pitman B Potter - China and the International Legal System - 2011
Monograph on China's participation in legal institutions.
4 items
Brookings Institution - The purpose and promise of China's International Organization for Mediation - 2025
Analysis of China's new mediation organization and its possible role.
AustChina Institute - China's Mediation Initiative and Australia - 2025
Policy analysis on Australia and the International Organization for Mediation.
Christopher B Johnstone and Bonny Lin - Responding to a More Coercive Chinese Coast Guard and a Potential PRC Quarantine of Taiwan - CSIS - 2024
CSIS analysis of quarantine scenarios and the legal framing of coast guard coercion.
Harriet Moynihan - China's Evolving Approach to International Dispute Settlement - Chatham House - 2017
Briefing paper on Chinese choices among courts arbitration and diplomacy.