Events
Lecture on China’s Policy-oriented Approach to International Law by Prof. Bingbing Jia
22 Oct 2025
1:00pm – 2:00pm
Graduate Law Centre 2/F, Bank of America Tower, 12 Harcourt Road Central, Hong Kong
Prof. Bingbing Jia
Bingbing Jia, D. Phil. (Oxon.); Professor of International Law, Tsinghua University, Beijing. Member of the Expert Group, Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) (2024-); Vice President, Chinese Society of International Law (2023-); Member of the Expert Committee of the China International Commercial Court, Supreme People’s Court (2023-); Member of Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law (2016-). Lecturer at the Hague Academy of International Law, General Course (2026); BOK Visiting International Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Carey School of Law (2021); Associate Member, l’Institut de Droit International (2021-); Member of the Editorial Board, American Journal of International Law (2020-); Global Professor of Law, New York University School of Law (2019); Lecturer at the Hague Academy of International Law, Special Course (2016).
This lecture proposes to deal with two problems about the nature of State practice and its relation to international law. First, can international law be discovered by looking at State practice? Or, is it made solely by such practice? What are the elements of this practice? What is the nature of the part of State practice that is relevant to international law? Second, is there a role for policy? If so, how do we look at policy? We might think of the policy-oriented approach of the New Haven School. However, China’s example shows differences from that paradigm. This talk will suggest that States take a policy-oriented approach when discovering or making international law but each does so in its own way, taking into account their own characteristics. The international legal system has a policy-oriented quality but there is a contest over policies.
