| International law plays an important role in regulating international affairs. It has been constructed in two ways: hard law and soft law, each of these forms has its uniqueness and cannot be substituted for the other. In this thesis, I first discuss the general principle of international law and the framework of hard law and soft law. Second, I deal with how the rule orientated WTO has evolved from its diplomatic orientated predecessor GATT; demonstrate why contracting parties of the GATT prefer hard legalization and eventually established the WTO. Third, I seek to demonstrate why the WTO rules are amiable to China's accession to the WTO, and how China's approach towards dispute settlement has changed after its accession. In the final section, I indicate the way China would behave in the dispute settlement process in the WTO. In this way, I seek to explore the role soft law and hard law play in international economic regulations, why the WTO was established as an organization that favoured hard legalization, how China adjusted into the WTO and why China's approach towards dispute settlement has been described as "aggressive legalism". |
