Chinese Journal of International Law Advance Access published online on April 29, 2009
Chinese Journal of International Law, doi:10.1093/chinesejil/jmp007
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
International Treaties in the Chinese Domestic Legal System*
Correspondence: email: hqxue{at}yahoo.com
China has made considerable progress in the past thirty years with respect to implementation of international obligations in its domestic legal system. Although China's Constitution and its basic laws do not set forth a general provision on the status of treaties in the domestic legal system, substantive treaty obligations undertaken by China, to a large extent, have been incorporated into special national laws, exerting a direct impact on the economic and social activities of the country. This article examines various forms and modalities by which China implements its international obligations at domestic level. There have been an increasing number of cases where courts apply treaty provisions to give private parties additional legal protection. In the civil and commercial areas, international treaties apply primarily to cases with foreign elements, while in the criminal law area, China has prescribed almost all of the international crimes as criminal offences under its national criminal law. China implements its international obligations in good faith with the view that effective implementation of treaty obligations will not only serve well its own development, but also promote peace and cooperation among States.
* This study focuses on the main legal system of China and does not cover the legal practice of treaty application in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Helpful sources regarding this topic include: Chinese legislation: www.lawinfochina.com/index.asp; Chinese legislation in English: www.chinalaw.gov.cn/indexEN.jsp; judicial statements on the interpretation and application of law of the Supreme People's Court: www.chinalaw.gov.cn/jsp/contentpub/browser/moreinfo.jsp?page=2&id=co5022565624; ZHU Xiaoqing and HUANG Lie (eds), Relations between International Treaties and Domestic Law, Papers of the Chinese–German Seminar on Relations between International Treaties and Domestic Law (World Knowledge Press, Beijing, 1st edn., 2000), ISBN 7-5012-1423-9.
** XUE Hanqin, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to ASEAN, Legal Counsel of the Foreign Ministry, member of the International Law Commission. JIN Qian, Division Chief of the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. The authors would like to express their deep appreciation to Mr CAO Jianming, formerly Vice-President of the Supreme People's Court of China and to the Treaty Division of the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China for their kind support in the preparation of this article. The authors are also grateful to Mr SHEN Qinmin for his research assistance and Professor Sienho Yee for reading the manuscript and providing helpful comments. The authors, however, take full responsibility for any error that may be found in this article. The views expressed herein do not represent the position of the institutions with which the authors are associated. This article was completed at the end of 2007.