Seeking development in the neoliberal world: China's state-owned enterprises reforms in the context of international economic law

This research examines China’s development in terms of the nation’s SOE reforms surrounding the two major milestones in China’s integration with neoliberalism, the accession to the World Trade Organization and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It considers the interlinking of the legal aspect of China’s SOEs reform with its economic development, and reinforces the economic argument that China has embraced both neoliberalism and state-capitalism in order to achieve its industrial development. This paper highlights the persistent logic of China’s SOEs reform which aims to approach international legal standards while keeping sight of the objectives of economic development. China’s semi-embrace of neoliberalism and its insistence on state capitalism, on the one hand, provide an alternative developmental model for other developing countries, while on the other hand, facing an increasingly deteriorating relationship with the US which cannot tolerate any rising power that challenges its hegemony, especially a power with a different ideology.