CHINA'S EXERCISE OF SOVEREIGNTY AND THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER: APPRAISAL OF A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

China¿s exercise of State sovereignty is often maligned as anathema to the development of international law and the stability of the international system. Such a view fails to take into account China¿s historical experience with international law and its evolving approach to the current international legal order. This thesis explores the extent to which China¿s exercise of State sovereignty has shaped and contributed to the legitimacy and development of international law and the direction in which the current international legal order may proceed. It also examines how international law within a normative¿institutional framework has moderated China¿s exercise of State sovereignty and helps mediate differences between China¿s and other States¿ approaches to the principle of State sovereignty that has undergone oscillating interpretations, such that the locus in which the principle resides in the current international legal order, and international law generally, may be better understood.