西方國際社會所建構的國際公法於19世紀中葉傳入東亞諸國,繼受此種國家間相互規範的大清帝國與日本,透過不同的認識歷程,對國際公法產生不同的體認與實踐。本文試圖以國際公法之有效控制(effective control)概念,觀察19世紀與20世紀初葉,大清帝國與日本政府在臺灣牡丹社與東沙島主權歸屬交涉過程的認知表現,並據以檢驗國際規範擴散的過程與成效。本文發現,國際社會共享知識的建構過程,呈現國際規範被不完整傳播、學習與內化的樣貌;國家間的互動實踐,未必會型塑完美的觀念傳遞與內化效果。如果規範的擴散是一個被削減而非增益的過程,則國際社會共享知識的內容,可能並不如社會建構理論所意識的完整;而所謂的建構過程,它所塑造的內容,也未必是原始觀念傳播者所預期的想像。
The public international law hailing from the West spread forth to East Asia during the mid-19th century. The Qing Empire of China and Japan both came to accept the public international law, but developed divergent understanding, perceptions and practices thereof as a result of different cognitive and learning processes. This article explores the Qing Empire's and Japan's cognitive and the ensuing behavioral aspects with regard to the concept of effective control, as reflected in the dispute resolution over the MuDan Incident and Pratas Island dispute between the two countries. By doing so, this article also examines the process and effect of the international norm diffusion. This article discovers that the constructive process of shared knowledge in the international societyis incomplete in terms of norm diffusion, learning, and internationalization. The actual interactions among countries do not always guarantee a perfect diffusion or learning of norms, or complete internalization thereof. When the diffusion of norms leads to saliently shrunk instead of enriched substance of the norms in question, the extent to which the allegedly shared knowledge is adequately learned and diffused is perhaps at risk, far beyond what is posited by the social constructivism. The actual content of the allegedly shared knowledge shaped by the constructive process may also deviate much from the expectation of norm distributors.