A Jurisprudential Study On The Change Of China’s Conception Of International Law

With China’s economic development and growing world influence,it is urgent to prosper the development of China’s social sciences,build a discourse system with Chinese style and characteristics,and develop a world narrative with Chinese subjectivity.Jin Guantao argues that the traditional world was composed of different axis civilizations.Each civilization imagind a universal society with its own set of core values.However,things in the modern world are different as international law and nation-states constitute the core elements of the global order.China’s conception of international law reflects the mutual construction between China as a member of the international community and the global order,and changes in such conception reflects the evolvement of China’s understanding of modern civilization in the past century.Judging from the research at home and abroad on China’s conception of international law after the Reform and Opening up,we find that it is mainly scholars concerning themselves with international law(public international law)and jurisprudence who pay more attention to this issue,and that Marxist theoretical scholars who study the international perspectives of the Communist Party of China are also involved in related studies.Research methods wise,Chinese scholars approach international law from angles of legal culture,globalization of law,and coordinated research on international relations and international law,that is,first,they pay more attention to comparative research on the transformation in the first 30 years and the ensuing 40 years since the founding of PRC,highlighting that China has been actively adjusting its conception of international law as it pursues comprehensive opening to the outside world;second,the focus is on the fact that the country has entered a new era of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics,the idea of building a community of shared future for mankind,propositions that have great legal implications and have become hot topics of scholars,such as building a community of shared future for mankind and BRI.However,many explorations are conducted under the theme of the changing international order,and there is no in-depth discussion on the impact of China on international law or the value system,and especially lacking is a look at the laws governing and reasons for the changes in China’s conception of international law.Therefore,since the emergence of the awareness of sovereignty in Western European countries and the introduction of international law from Western Europe to the wider world in modern times,how was China’s international subjectivity established and what impact did it have on the theory and practice of international law in the process of China’s inheritance and promotion of international law?Examining these questions is conducive not only to our understanding of the process of how the conception of international law has spread from Western European as public law to the wider world,but also to understanding shifts in how to perceive China’s modernization.The content and findings of this study are as follows:First,the study analyzes the historical process of establishing sovereignty and international law of Western European countries in modern times,and argues that when international law was established in modern times as the rule for European countries to adjust relations,it was perceived to have helped with creating new ethics and positive law to meet the needs of the bourgeois revolution.On the one hand,in the process of "creation" to "maintenance" of sovereign states,the growing national rationality has promoted the willingness of states to safeguard common interests and become the main driving force in developing international law.On the other hand,Western religious discourse and political and legal discourse also offered "legitimacy"to the global flow of capital,and shaped modern consciousness and institutional choices for regions influenced.In order to provide legitimacy for the global rule of international law,dealing with the relation between European civilization and non-European civilizations was the core issue.Progressivism,rationalism and social Darwinism provided key foundation.According to these ideologies,European and non-European civilizations were supposed to belong to a continuous "evolutionary pedigree" of human society with the improvement logic and biological logic being its basic internal contradiction,namely a "civilizations class system " that seems to meet the theoretical imagination of progressivism and can provide ethical grounds for differences in national capacity in reality,which is the historical product of the subordinate concept of human society.Under these concepts,"self’ and "other",as well as human and nature are opposing forces,causing contradiction between subjectivity and objectivity,and between "civilized countries" and "uncivilized countries" under the "civilization class system",whereby the realization of rights of"civilized countries" in global governance was at the cost of depriving rights of"non-civilized countries".Second,based on China’s acceptance of international law and the generation of the subjectivity against international law since modern times,the study argues that the 100 years since founding of the Communist Party of China("CPC")has witnessed the in-depth interaction and integration of China with the world as the Chinese nation encountered the "great changes not seen in 3000 years".And the Communist Party of China,as the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation,has been transforming its perception of world civilizations to reflect the relationship between the rapid change of the times,and world restructuring and China.Therefore,the ideological materials of China’s conception of international law mainly come from Marxism and its theoretical achievements in sinicization,Chinese excellent traditional ideology and culture and the ethos of the times based on Chinese practices,which differ China’s perception of international law from western countries.The modern self-confidence of the Chinese people is based on fighting a series of wars against foreign aggressions and defending the country.Advocating the five principles of peaceful co-existence shows that China has begun to use the basic principles of international law to protect the national sovereignty and interests of the Chinese people.Theories like the inner-CPC united front theory and the "Three Worlds"theory in international relations clearly reflect the historical traces of the imagination of the international order.After the end of the Cold War,China seized the second historical opportunity of globalization,actively adjusted its internal economic system,integrated into the international trade system,and took the "harmony" philosophy valued by China’s traditional wisdom as the legal principle in trying to address the concern of China’s "peaceful rise" in the West.Third,the study analyzes two concepts of civilization class and international law established in the 19th century,which,having undergone the torment of the two world wars and the impact of the horizontal expansion of the subject of international law,are confronted with challenges both in terms of ideological basis and legal practices and are presented with opportunities for innvation.However,with the bankruptcy of the liberal model,the failure of Washington Consensus,the collective rise of emerging market countries,the localized out-of-control in the traditional"center-edge" structure,the perceived anxiety among western countries as China pursues peaceful rise as a civilized country,and the re-rise of the concept of civilization hidden in the international community,it is more urgent to promote the reform and innovation of global governance and the fairness and justice of international law.To carry out this task,we must first examine the ideological basis for the establishment of the class of civilizations and the concepts of international law,clean up the influence of the subjective legal philosophy of international law and social Darwinism,and introduce the ideological resources of conception of human subject as established by Kant’s philosophical system and Marxist philosophy,so as to lay legal and philosophical foundation to make international law applicable to the mutual learning of civilizations,promote harmonious co-existence of all countries,abandon the traditional philosophical method of objectification in favor of using the people-centered way to care for ourselves and other human beings.Fourth,the study prioritizes the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics,in which China is moving ever closer to the center of the world stage,and China’s conception of international law has achieved a type-based transition.Drawing on Marxist thoughts,Chinese traditional world views and contemporary Chinese theoretical and practical innovation,China’s perception adheres to principls that the essential feature of human society is the existence of class nature,human beings exist as a whole,and the world should be viewed as a community.On the one hand,we should build a human-universe center paradigm,uphold the common values of all mankind and promote the construction of a community of shared future for mankind.On the other hand,we should uphold nationality,promote the multi-qualitative development of civilizations,and provide conditions for the prosperity of the class nature of human society.At the same time,we should adhere to the Marxist ideology,recognize the nature of human society is reflected in practice,and the class nature of human society is a historical,practical and concrete existence,examine the universal crises and difficulties,and realize that common territory governance is the international-law based path to highlighting the class nature of human society and building a community of for mankind.Fifth,this study argues,from a legal culture perspective and for sake of connotation specification,that China has been drawn into the globalized system since it first made contact with the West through the international law and has undergone profound transformation in its legal system and norms.After Communist Party of China won the civil war with the support of the Chinese people and the People’s Republic of China was founded,a solid political foundation for legal system development was laid.Theories from adapting Marxism to China’s conditions,outstanding Chinese cultural heritage and all related human cultural achievements have formed part of the historical and rational basis of Chinese philosophical views towards the international law and provided the knowledge underpinning for developing new Marxist philosophies,before the modern transition of legal development subjectivity can be achieved eventually.In a word,human society has entered the third decade of the 21st century.Due to global warming and COVID-19,old concepts contained in axis civilizations such as"all under heaven are of one family","a shared destiny for all" and "harmony between heaven and man" have been re-embraced by humans.In the meantime,Chinese and foreign thinkers have come up with their own earnest expectations for the reconstruction of(axis)civilizations.Against this backdrop,we should implement the principles of international law on the basis of the nature of human society,as well as innovate the practice and expand the subjectivity and value rationality of international law,so as to contribute to human wellbeing and progress of human society.