Rule of Law in China: Prospects and Challenges
As China’s newly appointed politburo begins the transition to political leadership, they will confront a host of critical policy issues, few of which are easy to resolve. The development of China’s legal system is arguably the most consequential issue confronting China’s new leaders, and the direction of future legal reforms will have deep reverberations in matters of human rights, sociopolitical stability, the transformation of the political system, and prospects of the country’s economic growth.
On November 28, the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings hosted the launch of In the Name of Justice: Striving for the Rule of Law in China (Brookings Press, 2012), a new book by Professor He Weifang, one of China’s most influential legal thinkers. The discussion brought together prominent American legal scholars to present a critical assessment of the development of China’s legal system and concluded with a discussion between U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer and John L. Thornton, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Brookings, on the significance of the ongoing search for constitutionalism in China.
Agenda
Panel 1: The Quest for Judicial Independence
He Weifang
Professor - Peking University Law School
Panel 2: Prospects and Challenges for Rule of Law
Jon Huntsman
Former Brookings Expert
Ambassador to the Russian Federation
Chairman - Huntsman Cancer Institute
William P. Alford
Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law; Vice Dean, Graduate Program and International Legal Studies; Director, East Asian Legal Studies - Harvard Law School
Jerome Cohen
Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations - Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Paul Gewirtz
Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law, Yale Law School
Director, Paul Tsai China Center, Yale Law School
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center
Panel 3: Constitutionalism and its Significance for China
Stephen Breyer
Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
John L. Thornton
Chairman, The Brookings Institution
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Beijing has shown time and time again that it frankly does not care what the international community disapproves of. It is playing by its own rules, like it or not.