The Study On China-ASEAN Judicial Cooperation (1991-2014)

This thesis focuses on the development of China-ASEAN judicial cooperation after the Cold War (1991-2014), demonstrating how the political mutual trust and common interests influent on China-ASEAN judicial cooperation under realism context and suggesting to break the dilemma of China-ASEAN judicial cooperation from a functionalism perspective.This thesis is divided into six chapters, in addition to the introduction and the conclusion. It analyzes the historical background, foundation and development stages of China-ASEAN judicial cooperation. Through comparing China-ASEAN judicial cooperation before and after the end of the Cold War, it reveals the close relationship between China-ASEAN cooperation and their mutual political trust. It suggests that China-ASEAN judicial cooperation has gone through three stages:the germination period (1991-1996), the growth period (1997-2002) and the promotion period (2003-2014). The following three chapters discuss each phases respectively, along with analyzing China-ASEAN mutual political trust in corresponding periods. By comparing the correlation between the judicial cooperation and common interests demand with the political mutual trust at three stages, it demonstrates that mutual political trust is the determinant factor for China-ASEAN judicial cooperation while common interest is an important driving force. Exploring the problems and reasons in the China-ASEAN judicial cooperation, this thesis makes constructive suggestions for China-ASEAN judicial cooperation in the future to learn from successful experience of EU and ASEAN regional judicial cooperation. In a long period, the vertical structure of the China-ASEAN judicial cooperation legal framework will include cooperation within China-ASEAN (10+1), the Greater Mekong Sub-region and bilateral juridical cooperation between China and individual ASEAN countries. At the same time, the transverse structure of the China-ASEAN judicial cooperation legal framework should be pay more attention to the track II (the semi-official think tank) and track III (non-governmental exchanges), in addition to the track I (official diplomacy). It reviews the development of China-ASEAN judicial cooperation and suggests that the next decade will be a new historical development stage for China-ASEAN judicial cooperation as well, with legal diplomacy playing an important role in international relations and the overall diplomacy of sovereign country.