The procedures for dealing with a military command deemed illegal is as follows in China: —
“Article 32-1. Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers and Servicepersons shall have the obligation to execute such commands to them issued by their direct, legal superiors. If any such command shall be deemed illegal, or against any effective ordinance, it shall be reported to the superior, who issued the said command. If the superior then regards the command in question to be legal, he shall issue the command in written form and send a certified copy thereof to the Ministry of Defence, along with any necessary explanation, and the said command shall be executed. All responsibility, foreseen and unforeseen, civil and criminal, arising out of execution or any act reasonably required and taken to effect said execution, of such a command, shall be that of the superior, who issued the said command.
"32-2. Any command resulting in a criminal offence shall be void ab initio, and no person shall have any obligation to execute it, irrespective of the foregoing.
“32-3. If, in any of the foregoing circumstances, a superior refuses or fails within a reasonable time to issue a command in written form, the said command shall be void.”
— Code of Conduct, 1942 edition.
