Subversion of liberal order for a nationalistic cause? Intellectual property rights and the Chinese state legitimation claim in a knowledge economy.

The article will discuss China?s attempt to use the instrument of intellectual property protection in dealing with Western companies to promote its interests demands our attention. China is the first country in the world that demands a share of IP rights in its exported human genetic resources (HGR) . It used the language and the instrument of (neo)liberalism to promote its national interests and state control over exports of its HGR, an action equating to a subversion of liberal norms. This paper examines this phenomenon, before going on to examine the factors that came together to produce such subversion. In the second part of the paper, Chinese nationalism and state theory will be examined, to highlight the interaction between a fraction of society (here mainly Chinese geneticists) and the state in the process of science and technology reforms that led to the subversion of the liberal order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]