The Impact of National Security on Human Rights: A Comparative Study of Practice under the ECHR and in China (International and Comparative Law in the Asia Pacific)

The book contemplates the relations between national security and human rights.It studies how national security and human rights interact with each other in Europe and China, and how each actor seeks to protect one without damaging the substance of the other.The book aims to offer an insight into the legitimacy of the assumption that China is partial to security while European nations opt for freedom. By comparing the approaches taken by Europe and China, the book finds that both parties tend to allow the government authorities to take proactive actions against national security threats, even those threats may be potential, distant or cumulative.The substantive control, internal and external, concerns mainly the task of preventing the impugned power from being abused. Nevertheless, divergences do exist. In terms of how countries deal with national security threats, it is not determined only by the nature of threats, but by the extent to which government authorities are sensitive to the