Extraterritorial Aspects of the Fundamental Rights Articles in the Constitution of China

The Constitution of China does not match China’s image as a great power, in the sense that it is silent on its spacial scope, in particular the extraterritorial aspects of fundamental rights articles. Currently, fundamental rights research in China has mainly focused on the relationship between a State and its residents, while over-looking the extraterritorial aspect of rights protection. This reflects an outdated approach of constitutional law based on a rigid idea of territoriality. This article, however, argues that the Chinese Constitution should reflect the horizon of a great power and that its fundamental rights articles should be interpreted as being capable of extraterritorial application. In doing so, it depicts the potential occasions where the extraterritorial approach of the Chinese Constitution is pertinent. It then reveals that the extraterritorial approach is neither implausible nor self-evident on the basis of comparative law study. It then explores the legal doctrine for the extraterritorial application of fundamental rights articles in the Chinese Constitution in the light of China’s role as a great power. Finally, it addresses how the extraterritorial approach of the Chinese Constitution might function in China’s legal practice and how such an approach might affect human rights discourse in China.