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 them. Divergences are also found in how the two parties unfold their approaches. It is noted that the approach taken by China is short of an effective arrangement against abuse of power by the government authorities. In this context, the book proposes the areas that China can work on without meeting resistance from its existing political system.

The book sheds new light on how to read the national security case law, which helps readers get hold of the main threads of the ECtHR’s decision-making patterns and categorise relevant case law. Scholars generally hold that the Court’s reasoning is short of clarity and consistency. The book proposes a way in which we can find the consistence and patterns that lie in the Court’s reasoning in national security case law.

The intended readership includes scholars and researchers in the fields of human rights, legal studies, political science and Chinese studies, especially those whose research interests centre on

• international human rights law,
• human rights limitations and derogations,
• European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR),
• China’s human rights course and practice,
• comparative legal studies of Europe and China, and
• the conflict and reconciliation between national security and human rights.

The book can also serve policy makers and human rights NGOs, by

• providing a new perspective to read the national security case law of the ECtHR,
• offering detailed insights about China’s approach and practice in national security cases which often raise observers’ concerns over human rights violations, and
• identifying deficiencies in China’s approach and putting forward constructive suggestions on how to improve it.

Dr. Chao JING is Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Researcher at Human Rights Institute, Southwest University of Political Science and Law. He also serves as Articles Editor for the Journal of Human Rights Law. Chao obtained his doctoral degree in International Law from Utrecht University, the Netherlands in 2023. During his PhD, he took up internship at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for six months. His research interests include international human rights law, UN human rights mechanism, European human rights mechanism, rights limitations, and national security law.