China's Recent Experience in WTO Dispute Settlement: Issues and Prospects

Abstract

China’s rapid recent emergence as the world’s largest exporter and second largest economy has wrought major shifts in global trading patterns and trade relations. Since its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, with enhanced access to WTO Members’ markets, China has found itself increasingly entangled in trade conflicts which have been accentuated by the current global financial crisis. China has been criticized for engaging in unfair trade practices by developed and developing countries alike, the frequent target of anti-dumping and countervailing duty actions. China has also been involved in a growing number of disputes before the WTO, primarily as a respondent, but also importantly as a complainant. At this brown bag presentation, Mr Lewis will examine China’s recent experience in WTO dispute settlement, in particular, certain leading cases to which China has been a party, including US – Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties, EC – Fasteners, China – Wind Power Equipment, and China – Raw Materials, among others. These WTO disputes underline China’s continuing status as an NME (non-market economy), and related issues of state-sponsored subsidization and other forms of government support for Chinese industries, particularly, state-owned enterprises. At the same time, certain of these WTO cases implicate the new, green economy, sustainable development, resource scarcity and environmental protection, all critically important areas impacting the ecological health of the planet as well as future economic growth and development in many WTO Members, including China, the US and the EU.  Mr Lewis will conclude by addressing the prospects for China in the context of WTO dispute settlement and the global trading system.

Biography of the Speaker

Donald Lewis is currently a Research Fellow and was formerly a Lecturer in Law and a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he taught courses on Trade and Investment in China and Dispute Resolution in China. Prior to coming to Stanford, he was an Associate Professor of Law at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Faculty of Law, where he taught and conducted research on Chinese law and international trade/international economic law for 23 years. Mr Lewis has served as a Fulbright Law Professor in mainland China at the law schools of Nankai University and Zhongshan University, and has also taught at Peking University School of Law.

While at the HKU Faculty of Law, Mr Lewis acted as Director of Chinese law programmes and, more recently, as Director of the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy (EAIEL) Program. In connection with the EAIEL Program, and China’s WTO accession, Mr Lewis acted as the first Academic Coordinator of the official World Trade Organization (WTO) Regional Trade Policy Course (RTPC) for the governments of Asia Pacific, including the Chinese government, providing technical training to trade officials on the WTO disciplines. He also coached two HKU Law teams to the Grand Final championship of the global ELSA WTO Moot Court Competition in Geneva, Switzerland. While at HKU, Mr Lewis was Director of the Microsoft ICT Research Network (ICTRN), a public law and policy scholarly network addressing current IP/IT issues as well as related trade and competition intersections in the Asia Pacific region.

His research and writing over the past decade have focused on China’s WTO reforms, trade, investment and development issues in China and the East Asia region, rule of law, Asian regional IP/IT issues, including software protection, e-commerce and trade facilitation, the antitrust and IP intersection in China, as well as Chinese and international dispute resolution. His books include China’s Participation in the WTO; The China Investment Manual; PRC Joint Ventures: Drafting and Negotiating Contracts; and The Life and Death of a Joint Venture in China. His articles have appeared in the Hong Kong Law Journal, Studies in Trade and Investment, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, and Computer and Telecommunications Law Review, among others. He is also the Co-Founder of the leading English language periodical on Chinese legal developments, China Law & Practice. He has been quoted in various print media including The Economist, Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Reuters, Associated Press, Asian Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post and Far Eastern Economic Review.

Mr Lewis obtained his AB in international relations from the University of Southern California (1976); his JD from Emory University School of Law (1980); and his LLM from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) (1981). He reads, types and speaks Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua).