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“One Country, Two Systems” and Innovation of the Norm of Sovereignty

Published:2018-06-14 Published:2018-06-14   Author:Yuan Zhengqing and Zhao Yang   [Small] [Middle] [Big] [More]

The norm of sovereignty is of vital importance in safeguarding China’s independence and territorial integrity. Nevertheless, China, while upholding the norm of sovereignty, also offers innovative ideas about the norm itself. The idea of “One Country, Two Systems” proposed by Deng Xiaoping and its practices are China’s innovation for the sovereignty norm. The innovation is manifested in two aspects. Firstly, under the framework of one sovereign state, two different types of political regimes can coexist and develop. Thus the traditional notion that one state can have only one political regime is challenged. Secondly, the two political regimes are not in parallel to each other but one is subordinate to the other. The great idea and practices of “One Country, Two Systems” go beyond the Westphalian norm of sovereignty and constitute innovative measures to tackle problems with Western countries inherited from history. China has not only been socialized to accept norms from the outside, but also conducted innovation to norms on the basis of its own national conditions so as to have better solutions to practical problems that are confronting China.

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