China's Practice in Treaty Reservations since 1949: A Critical Review

• Author: Yong Wang
• Pages: 401-402

China’s Practice in Treaty Reservations 401

X JEAIL 2 (2017)

Yong Wang

∗

Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has acceded to more than

300 multilateral treaties. Among them, China made reservations to 83 treaties,

accounting for nearly 27.7 percent of the total. Evidently, for China, formulating

reservations to multilateral treaties is an issue of vital importance in the process of

concluding and executing multilateral treaties. This paper examines the three main

reasons why China inclines to formulate reservations to the treaties, then argues that

the reservations formulated by China, whether in procedure or in substance, are not

only in full conformity with the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, but



that China shall withdraw, and addresses the limitations of China’s existing treaty

reservation system. Accordingly, this paper concludes that the Chinese government

should improve and perfect its treaty reservation system with some suggestions.

Keywords

Reservations to Treaties, Multilateral Treaties, Vienna Convention on the

Law of Treaties, China’s Practice

China

’

s Practice in Treaty

Reservations since 1949:

Legal and Policy Evaluation

∗ Professor of International Law at East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL), China. LL.B. /LL.M.

/Ph.D. (ECUPL). ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4558-3663. This research is supported by 'Shuguang Program'

from Shanghai Education Development Foundation and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. Much gratitude

is extended to Prof. Eric Y. J. Lee for his insightful advice. The author may be contacted at: yongyongsh@163.com /

Address: International Law School, East China University of Political Science and Law, No. 1575 Wanghangdu Road,

Shanghai, 200042, P.R. China.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2017.10.2.04