This book explores the legal implications of China's state-directed economic model for the
existing international economic order. It first reveals the close links between the market and
the state in contemporary China by profiling an emerging triple role of the state in the
economy. It then explores how the domestic legal system underpins the distinctive market-state
relationship before analysing whether essential norms of international economic law which
bracket the international economic order are able to adapt to China's innovative market-state
relationship. The book argues that the international economic order is inherently limited since
it tends to adhere to an orthodox dichotomy with a clear boundary between the market and the
state. It also suggests that China's new state-market relationship has challenged the dichotomy
- the state does not intend to eliminate the functioning of the market but conversely
utilises a market mechanism and makes itself more integrated into the market. Lastly the book
proposes a fresh perspective to comprehend the 'market-state' question which does not to take
for granted that all market-state relationships are mutually exclusive.
