EU-China Legal Development Co-operation

The ‘law and development’ movement of the 1960 is widely regarded as a failure. The assessment of the recent phenomenon of legal development co-operation that introduces concepts such as the rule of law to developing countries may turn out to be more positive. This paper explores the legal framework and the purposes of EU development co-operation as well as specific legal co-operation projects in the People’s Republic of China. The study concludes that the deductive approach followed by most of the projects may in general be appropriate for the cultural and political environment in China.