CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ THE ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TOWARD INTERNATIONAL LAW Under the UN Draft Articles on State Responsibility for International Wrongful Acts, a state is responsible for all activities attributable to it emanating from its territory. Although pandemics may not be included in these responsibilities, they might provide the international community with an opportunity to revisit the convention and amend it to reflect the growing interdependency of the global economy and the interconnectedness of societies. Pandemics should be treated as any other global threat, which requires collective action as well as individual or collective responsibility. Unfortunately, legal avenues for holding China accountable are limited or non-existent. China is not a signatory to the Optional Clause of the International Court of Justice; hence no nation can refer China to the ICJ for breach of its international obligation without its consent. China has an extremely poor record of participating in third-party adjudication, therefore, it would be impossible to see China arguing a case before the ICJ. Secondly, governments, individuals, or corporations should be able to sue China in the national court of another state for breach of a commercial agreement. However, China is likely to claim sovereign immunity and not participate in the proceedings. That would leave the court to issue a default judgment against China, which the plaintiff can then seek to enforce. It is difficult for national courts to enforce a default judgment unless the host state steps in to enforce the judgment through diplomatic channels. China has taken steps to curtail the power of tech companies, which have grown exponentially in recent years. Chinese regulators suspended the Ant Group, an Alibaba payment app that was forced to suspend its $37 billion IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and was fined $2.6 billion for violating securities regulations. Its CEO, Jack Ma, was also forced to scale back his day-to-day management of the company and relinquish control of some of the company’s electronic payment platforms. Ma was also forced to change the name of his business school and reduce its curriculum. Other Chinese business ventures such as Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing app, and Meituan, the food delivery app financed by Tencent, have also come under scrutiny by regulators. The head of a private farm was accused of inciting protest, illegal confiscation of state land, and competing with state farms. Sun Dawu was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. China has also crackdown on private tutorial services and schools and forced them to relinquish control to the state. The government’s new educational policy forbids companies from profiting from education. In his quest to control other business ventures, Xi Jinping has limited the number of hours children came to play computer games and now requires all schools to teach Xi’s core ideological doctrines. 128 Xi has also sought to curtail casino operations in Macau and has detained mainland some operators who have flouted the ban on casino gaming in China. 129 Xi Jinping has also unveiled a “Common Prosperity” campaign to close the wealth and income gap. China is the most unequal income distribution country in the world. Whereas China registers the second-highest number of billionaires on the Forbes Billionaire List (698), China has one of the highest poverty ratios in the world. It would be great if the goal of Xi Jinping is to narrow the income gap, but I am afraid it is just another strategy by the Communist Party to maintain its grip on all segments of Chinese society. The CCP appears to be reverting to a more centralized economy than the free-market economy Deng Xiaoping initiated.

128 China’s Misguided Crackdown on Business, Fin. Times (July 30, 2021), p. 14. 129 RIORDAN, P., HO-HIM, CH., LIN, A., LEWIS , L. FT Big Read. China, Fin. Times , (Nov. 29, 2021), p. 19.

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