This chapter examines China’s asymmetrical engagement with different areas of international adjudication at a time of rising Chinese assertiveness and influence in the shaping of international law. It first explores the relatively minor, yet still remarkable softening of China’s traditional strategic detachment from international adjudicative systems concerning general public international law, international criminal law and international human rights law. These areas exemplify China’s lowest point of engagement with the international adjudicative system. It then focusses on China’s deepening engagement with other international adjudicative systems – in the areas of international trade law and international commercial and investment law – and how the prevention and dispute settlement system of the Belt and Road Initiative is taking shape. It looks at China’s exploratory accommodation of international settlement mechanisms in the law of the sea and newer areas, before examining an array of concomitant cultural, historical, political and contemporary strategic factors weighing both for and against China moving beyond its current ‘comfort zone’ regarding international adjudication.