CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

PUNSARA AMARASINGHE – SANJAY RAJHANS CYIL 11 (2020) All in all, Wei’s work remains a good balanced account deconstructing the anomalies of China’s intensified mechanism on development and the author’s astute attempt to unpack the severe environmental damage under the guise of development has shown what more significant challenges await Beijing in the future. Nevertheless, the broad issues that have been discussed in the book are tiring to grasp as the author’s arguments have drifted from energy diplomacy to territorial disputes creating a slight vagueness of the content contrary to the theme which focuses on international law. Moreover, this work should be a much worthy contribution to the literature relating to contemporary Chinese issues, if the author did provide an analysis on China’s intrinsic attitude to international law since the inception of Communist rule. This slight drawback should not be a reason to mar this compelling piece of work written by Yuwa Wei.

Punsara Amarasinghe,* Sanjay Rajhans**

* Punsara Amarasinghe is a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison and reading for his Ph.D in international law at the Institute of Law, Politics and Development at Scuola Superiore Sant Anna in Pisa, Italy. He previously held a one-year fellowship at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. ** Sanjay Rajhans is the deputy head of the department of public policy at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow and he is currently a visiting professor at the department of political science in the University of Turin. His research areas include China-Russia relations, protest movements, and Russian foreign policy.

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