Political institutions, resistance and China's harmonization with international law

This article looks at two dimensions gaining empirical and theoretical significance in China - harmonization with international laws and institutional reshuffling - in order to determine where political battles over implementation and enforcement of trade agreements occur. Although Beijing is attempting to standardize its legal and regulatory regimes, many localities are reluctant to change laws and regulations which provide preferential benefits to investors, insulate the local economy from competition, and perpetuate the informal power of local officials. Similarly, many sectoral bureaucracies resist giving up the power and privileges they enjoyed under China's semi-reformed planned system. Rent-seeking behaviour by national and local officials threatens to be a major impediment in China's ability to comply with its WTO commitments. This article analyses institutions developed in China to "handmaiden" domestic harmonization of Chinese laws with WTO principles, and the enforcement mechanisms to rein in localities and bureaucratic actors that continue to resist efforts at harmonization.