The Treaty-Making Power in China: Constitutionalization, Progress and Problems

Compared to 30 or 40 years ago, a dramatic expansion of China’s treaty practice as an important aspect of China’s international relations can be observed today. Several factors may account for this growth and for the current extensive treaty practice. The primary reason is that China promotes its social and economic development through international cooperation since adopting its so-called Open Policy in 1978. The use of treaties has become an important instrument to stabilize and advance economic intercourse between China and the rest of the world. According to a survey of the first 46 volumes of the Treaty Series of the People’s Republic of China, ¹ in addition to 373 treaties concerning loans from international organizations, 2,967 treaties concerning economic affairs were concluded by China in the period from 1949 to 1999. That number makes up 45 percent of the overall 6,538 treaties recorded in the Treaty Series for the same half century. ²