Preface

In recent years，the concept of community of shared future for mankind has increasingly been accepted by international community. In 2017，at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China，President XI Jinping emphasized the notions of “following a path of peaceful development” and “building a community with a shared future for mankind”，which raised new goals and values for promoting the international rule of law. Meanwhile，on actively promote international cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative （“BRI”），XI Jinping stated that it shall follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in engaging in global governance. Therefore，how to advance the international legal cooperation and establish a law-guaranteed system for the Initiative within the regime of the international rule of law has to be an essential task for China’s better involving in the construction of the international rule of law and propelling the positive interactive developments between domestic law and international law.

The annual bilingual （Chinese/English） publication of the Annual Report on China’s Practice in Promoting the International Rule of Law （“the Report”） aims at elaborating the ideas China advocates，the principles and positions China maintains，and the actions China takes in specific areas of the international rule of law which in all for better illustrating the significant contributions China makes to promote the international rule of law in an all-around way. Besides，the Report will also increase the transparency of China’s practice and encourage international society to view China’s participation and contributions in an objective way，which eventually strengthen China’s voice and influence within the international arena.

Since 2014，the Institute of the International Law of Wuhan University （“the Institute”） has united all colleagues of the Institute to edit，publish and distribute the Report. At the beginning of 2016，the Institute decided to list the Report in the Major Achievements of the National Top Think-tank. Besides，the Institute also planned to broaden and deepen the research areas based on previous versions of 2015 and 2016 with some new challenging topics sprout in the regime of the international rule of law.

The Report （2017） takes China’s practice as the perspective，and extends to almost every issue on the rule of law connected with global governance. It consists of two parts：Practice Summaries and Studies on Special Themes.

The first part summarize the practice of China in each specific areas of promoting the international rule of law，which mainly includes （1） the Rule of Law and Relations among States，which covers the Development of the Exploitation Code in the Area and China’s Position，Building of the Energy Community among China and its Neighboring Countries，China’s practice in International Human Rights，International Humanitarian Law，International Criminal Law and other fields；（2） the Rule of Law and International Economic Relations，which covers international Trade Law and Regional Free Trade Agreement；（3） the Rule of Law and International Civil and Commercial Affairs，which covers China’s practice in UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT，as well as the International Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters.

The Second Part focuses on the special themes of China’s practice in promoting the international rule of law，which deeply concludes China’s theoretical innovation，institutional construction and some latest practice within some specific areas in 2017. It mainly consists of two topics，one is Building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind，which covers China’s View of International System in the New Era，and from Peaceful Coexistence to Win-win Cooperation：Cognitive Iteration of the Chinese Concept of International Rule of Law. Another is BRI and the Rule of Law，which includes the International Legal Implications of the BRI for International Cooperation，the Innovation of Civil and Commercial Dispute Settlement Mechanisms along the “Belt and Road”，China’s Ratification of the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements：Analysis and Proposals，the International Investment Arbitration under the BRI，as well as China-Africa Cooperation on Access to Medicine under the BRI.

The Report （2017） is collectively written by the researchers of the Institute. Compiling this report is merely an attempt without any experience before，so unavoidable omissions and deficiencies still exist both in structure and in content. We welcome comments from authorities and academic peers，which will help us to make further improvements in next edition. Finally，we gratefully acknowledge the Social Sciences Academy Press for publishing the Report both in English and Chinese.

XIAO Yongping

FENG Jiehan

June 2018