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In the Garden of Gethsemene: US-Sino Relations in the History of International Law during the Republican Period (1912-1949)

2021; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.3939754

1556-5068

Christopher R. Rossi,

Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics

The transmission of liberal internationalism to republican China following the fall of the Qing Dynasty presented challenges and opportunities. The double-pull of Confucian virtuous moralism and western legal rationalism facilitated the developing lingua franca of international law while connecting, as well, to Chinese interests in adapting ideas of sovereignty and non-intervention. This paper focuses on the intersection of republican virtues and imperatives of collective security while balancing foreign policy considerations relating to extraterritoriality, the Open Door policy, and the imperfect transmission of western legal principles to post-Manchu China. The export of liberal international principles to China never broke free of formalistic emphasis on the written agreement, contributing to an underlying sense of betrayal during germination of republicanism in China.