Skirting International Law or Unlawful? China's Pursuit of Forced Repatriation of Certain Chinese Refugees from Other Countries

ABSTRACT: This article considers the lawfulness of the measures taken by the Chinese government to pursue the forced repatriation of certain Chinese refugees. Those measures generally fall into two categories: (1) exerting diplomatic pressure and providing economic incentives, and (2) with the host country's consent, dispatching Chinese officials and vehicles/aircraft to take over the targeted Chinese refugees and transporting them back to China. The central arguments of this article are: (1) it is unlikely that China violated its obligation to perform the Refugee Convention in good faith; (2) in certain cases, China should be held indirectly responsible for the internationally wrongful act of refoulement committed by the relevant host countries under article 16 of the ARSIWA; and (3) the second category of measures constitutes a violation of China's obligation not to commit arbitrary deprivation of liberty under customary international law of human rights.