The Legislation in Autonomous Areas of China: Progress, Limitations and Recommendations

Abstract

Under Chinese law, autonomous areas of the People’s Republic of China was granted more flexible legislative power. The exercise of this power is deemed as one of the main means to achieve self-government in the areas concerned. In terms of legislative requirement for the minority rights protection, China is generally in line with the international law. Nevertheless, in the reform era (1978 -present), the autonomous legislative power is still underused. Until now none of the five autonomous regions have passed their autonomous regulations, which is the most important form of autonomous legislation. The main reason for that is the disapproval of the relevant ministries of the central government. The number of other forms of autonomous legislation is also very limited. Based on the analysis of developments and limitations on the autonomous legislation, three recommendations for improving the autonomous legislative practice is provided in the last part of this article.

Keywords: Legislation - autonomous areas - regional national autonomy - ethnic minority - minority rights protection

JEL Classification: K23