Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
3-2026
Abstract
Most studies take a unitary state-centric approach to assessing China’s relationship with international economic law. In contrast, we provide a more nuanced approach that assesses variation in China’s engagement. We examine the role of different Chinese state and non-state actors, considering their interests, ideological frames, institutional contexts, and relation to state power. We illustrate our analytic framework by examining China’s response to and engagement with international dispute settlement systems in three areas: international commercial arbitration, international trade dispute settlement, and investor–state arbitration. Our approach is important for global cooperation in discrete policy areas so that the West does not ‘other’ China in simplistic, binary terms.
Discipline
International Law | International Relations
Research Areas
Corporate, Finance and Securities Law
Areas of Excellence
Growth in Asia
Publication
Journal of International Economic Law
Volume
29
Issue
1
First Page
118
Last Page
144
ISSN
1369-3034
Identifier
10.1093/jiel/jgag003
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
SHAFFER, Gregory; LI, Ji; and GAO, Henry S..
China and international economic dispute settlement: Disaggregating the state. (2026). Journal of International Economic Law. 29, (1), 118-144.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4847
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgag003