News Archive
Law School Hosts International Conference on China's First Ten Years in the WTO
10/08/2012
On October 5, the Center for International and Comparative Law held a conference on “China's First Ten Years in the WTO - Issues, Challenges, and Prospects.” The event featured academic experts from around the world and provided six hours of Indiana CLE credit.
Vice Dean Antony Page welcomed attendees to the event, which was organized by Professor Frank Emmert, director of the Center.
The day was divided into several themes, and included multiple presentations given by scholars from the U.S. and abroad, followed by questions and discussion from the audience. The first session on “Compatibility of China’s Political and Economic System with WTO Law” featured sessions by Dr. Ming Du, LL.M., Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong on “China's State Capitalism and the WTO,” and Mark L. Shope, J.D., LL.M., Associate at Faegre Baker Daniels, Indianapolis, on “Neoliberal Economic Policy and its Discontents: A Look at Chinese Development Policies and their Compatibility in a Multilateral Trading System.”
The next session on “Rule Based vs. Power Based Trade Relations,“ included “China, the US, and the EU in the WTO – ‘The Power and the Glory’ or just ‘Catch-as-Catch-Can’?” by Dr. Frank Emmert, LL.M., John S. Grimes Professor and Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law and Anna Hakobyan, LL.M., Assistant Professor at Yerevan State University. This session also included “The Evolution and Future of the China-EU-Investment Relations” by Dr. Marc Bungenberg, LL.M., Professor of Public Law, European Law, Public International and International Economic Law at Siegen University and Visiting Professor at the University of Lausanne.
In the afternoon, “Global Equality vs. Regional Preferences” was the topic on which Dr. Talia Einhorn, Professor at Ariel University Center, Department of Economics and Business Management and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Tel Aviv University Faculty of Management presented with her paper titled, “Regional Trade Agreements - Effects, Significance, and Rank within the Framework of the World Trading System.” Ying Chen, LL.M., SJD candidate at IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law spoke on “China's Investment and Trade in Africa - Neo-Colonialism or Mutual Benefit?” and Dr. Javier Esguevillas, Professor at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos III, Madrid, and Research Fellow at Notre Dame University spoke on “Trade and Investment Between China and Latin America.”
The final session was on “Dispute Settlement on the National and International Level” which featured a paper on “Challenges, Contention and Compliance: China's Role in WTO Dispute Resolution” by Timothy Webster, J.D., LL.M., Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. “The Implementation of China's WTO Transparency Commitment and Its Effect on China's Rule of Law: An Empirical Study” was the topic of Dr. Lu Xiaojie, Professor at Tsinghua University School of Law, Beijing.
Professors Ming Du and Frank Emmert gave closing remarks at the conference. The Center plans to publish proceedings from the conference during the Spring semester.
