Mainland law expert delivers treaties lecture
Ellen Chan
The lecture was under the aegis of the CityU School of Law's Eminent Speakers Lecture Series. It addressed the status of international treaties and their implications for Chinese domestic law. Also discussed was the application of international treaties in China and those laws affected by this issue. Professor Rao's visit is illustrative of CityU's strong ties to mainland legal experts and served to strengthen ties between the two law schools.
"Through this talk, we will gain a deeper understanding of the situation regarding the application of international treaties in China and learn more about the mainland legal system," said Professor Wang Guiguo, Dean of the School of Law.
Professor Rao said China has fulfilled its international treaty obligations in good faith. Although there is no applicable international law binding the application of the treaties, China used the domestic law as a base to implement the international treaties. "The courts in China will implement the international treaties as the situation requires. In general, China will directly implement the treaties or transform them into domestic laws through legislation for implementation, and will directly apply international conventions in adjudications by China's domestic courts," said Professor Rao.
Professor Rao specialised in international organisation law, international aspects of the legal systems of Hong Kong and Macau and the Basic Law of Macau. Professor Rao is Director of the Peking University International Law Institute, and Director of same university's Research Centre for Law in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. He is also Deputy Director of the Institute of Hong Kong & Macao Affairs, Development Research Centre of State Council, PRC, and a member of the Committee for the Basic Law of Hong Kong SAR, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, PRC.