Criticism has long been laid about China’s unwillingness to subscribe to international human rights norms, the rule of law and liberal democratic practices. The United Nations and Western States and scholars have argued that human rights and liberal democracy underlain by a Western rule-of-law model are prerequisites to human development and governmental legitimacy. Is authoritarianism in China incompatible with human rights and democracy? Is the rule of law rejected entirely by the state apparatuses in China? Is there really no human rights protection under China’s Constitution and laws? Has China’s approach to international human rights law evolved since its realisation of the roles it may play in shaping international law? What do the Chinese people think or want about China’s political reform vis-à-vis human rights and democratic practices? How has China approached the United Nations Human Rights Council and its universal periodic review mechanism? With China’s rise in international order, this lecture will address these questions and the important issues they raise.

Dr. Phil C.W. Chan is Senior Fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy, a Stockholm-based think tank affiliated with the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He is also Affiliated Research Fellow at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and Senior Consultant to Polarwide Ltd, a strategic advisory firm in Hong Kong specialising in the China market. Holder of Law degrees from the University of Hong Kong, Durham, and the National University of Singapore where he obtained his Ph.D. in International Law/Chinese Law, Dr Chan has worked at universities in Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, and has experience with Baker Botts, world’s largest energy law practice, on policy, regulation and infrastructure. He is author of China, State Sovereignty and International Legal Order (2015) and over 30 refereed journal articles on international law, public law, human rights and global governance. He is also guest editor of two refereed journal special double issues, both reprinted as books with Forewords by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and has delivered over 80 guest lectures/seminars and conference papers at universities and think tanks worldwide.