Topic:

China and the Doha Round of WTO Negotiations

Speaker:

Dr. WANG Jiangyu

Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore

Date:

Friday, 22 January 2010, 3:30pm-5:00pm

Venue:

EAI Conference Room

NUS Bukit Timah Campus

469A Bukit Timah Road

Tower Block #06-01

Singapore 259770

Abstract:

In contrast to early predictions during its accession, China has not sought to play a leadership role in the Doha Round negotiations, or to rewrite WTO rules in a systemic manner. China came under fire from the United States and the European Union for failing to demonstrate greater leadership. The speaker seeks to explain the nature of that criticism, and argues that an over-reliance on the question of "Chinese leadership" as an explanatory concept could aggravate broader misperceptions about China's position in the Doha Round. The speaker analyzes some oft-misread negotiating positions of China, and argues that an analysis of China's position in the negotiations necessitates a more nuanced understanding of certain tensions and mixed positions within China's overall approach. 

About the Speaker:

Dr. Wang Jiangyu is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore. He was seconded to the Faculty of Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong as an Associate Professor from August 2006 to July 2009. His teaching areas and research interests include international economic law, corporate and securities law, law and development, Chinese legal system, and human rights in China. He was a member of the Chinese delegation at the annual conference of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Conference in 1999. He is also a member of the Executive Board of the WTO Institute of the China Law Society, a Senior Fellow at the Law and Development Institute (LDI), and a fellow of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law (Hong Kong). He recently received the 2007 Young Research Award of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in recognition of his accomplishment in research from 2006 to 2007.