Human rights and China’s international trade and investment relations

Questions about human rights in China extend beyond China’s boundaries. Over the past several decades, China’s spectacular economic growth has been accompanied by increased participation in international trade and investment relationships coupled with increased political and policy pressure advancing China’s human rights positions. Despite international legal standards to the contrary, China has promoted a human rights discourse in its international trade and investment relationships that elevates political control, social stability and economic accumulation over political and civil rights. Examining PRC human rights doctrine and exploring case studies of regional and bilateral relations, this chapter will examine how China’s trade and investment relationships reflect and promote its evolving orthodoxy on human rights.