Chinese Law Prof Blog

Presentation on "Chinese Export Controls and Regulations," Washington, DC

On April 21 in Washington, DC, the Export Controls and Embargoes Committee and China Law Committee of the ABA are jointly presenting a session entitled "China Export Controls and Regulations, and One Chinese Company’s Regulatory Response." The speakers will be Mr. Li Genxin (Secretary-General, China Arms Control and Disarmament Association), Mr. He Xiadong (Vice President, China North Industries Group), Mr. Cui Zheng (Director-General, Export Control and ICP Office), and Ms. Xia Ying (Deputy Director-General, Legal Affairs, Export Controls). Full details here: Download ChineseExportControls.pdf.

ABA Section of International Law Spring Meeting, New York City

The spring meeting of the ABA's Section of International Law will be held in New York City from April 5th to April 8th. Several of the agenda programs are related to China. For a complete list, click here.

Yale Law School's China Law Center conference on "Diversity, Equality and Harmony: International Workshop on Sexuality, Policy and Law"

Earlier this month, Yale's China Law Center, in conjunction with Fudan University, hosted a conference on sexual orientation and related policy issues. For the full story, click here.

University of Iowa conference on "China: Law, Finance, Security"

I have received the following announcement from the University of Iowa College of Law:

A day-long program on China will be held on February 10, 2006, at the University of Iowa College of Law. Scholars from around the country will address three important topics: 1) China and the rule of law; 2) developments in China’s financial sector, and 3) relations between China and Taiwan. The program’s schedule, the speakers' bios, abstracts of their talks, and the registration form can be found at the University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development website: http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/conferences/china/intro.shtml. On-line registration is required for those who plan to attend the free luncheon, where our keynote speaker, Professor Joseph Norton, will address developments in China's banking sector.

Asian Law Institute conference, Shanghai, 25-26 May 2006

The Asian Law Institute, a consortium of Asian law faculties operating out of the National University of Singapore, will have its third conference on 25-26 May 2006 in Shanghai at the East China University of Politics and Law. The theme of the conference is "The Development of Law in Asia: Convergence versus Divergence?"

Full details available here.

Conference on intellectual property, Oct. 27 in Washington, D.C.

The China Institute is sponsoring a conference on intellectual property protection in China on Oct. 27 in Washington, DC. For more information, click here: Download IPconference.pdf

Symposium announcement: "China at a Crossroads: Searching for a Balanced Approach to Development"

I have received the following announcement from the U.S. China Law Society:

The Harvard East Asian Legal Studies Program and the U.S. China Law Society will host a symposium entitled "China at a Crossroads: Searching for a Balanced Approach to Development," on November 5-6, 2005 at Harvard Law School.

China, much like the U.S., has become a society of haves and have-nots.  According to many academics specializing in China, the wealth disparity we see in today's China – based on a comparison of the Gini coefficients – is greater than that of the U.S. and second only to those of Latin American and sub-Saharan countries.   

The symposium will focus on searching for a balanced approach to development promoting both efficiency and equality.   The goal of this symposium is to examine systematically China's inequality from social, economic, legal and political perspectives and to generate constructive ideas and policy recommendations.

Among the speakers invited are He Weifang, one of the best-known constitutional scholar in China today; Li Shi, a pioneer in the study of the income-gap in China; and William Hsiao, the chief architect of a number of innovative programs in healthcare both inside and outside China.   Some of the West's most prominent Sinologists, including Roderick MacFarquhar and Elizabeth Perry will moderate the panels.  Dean Elena Kagan of Harvard Law School will welcome the attendees at the symposium opening.   For a complete list of speakers, please go to http://uschinalawsociety.org/symposium/speakers.htm.

For more information on the symposium and how to register and participate, please visit our website at: http://www.uschinalawsociety.org/symposium or email U.S. China Law Society at uschinalawsociety@gmail.com.

UN Seeks Speakers for Conference on Property Tax Reform in China

The United Nations Development Programme is seeking two speakers for an international seminar on reforming China's property tax system to be held in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, on November 22 & 23, 2005. For further details, see the posting in Paul Caron's Tax Prof Blog here.

Conference on Rights Advocacy and Legal Reform in China (Center for Chinese Studies, UCLA)

The UCLA Center for Chinese Studies will hold a conference on Rights Advocacy and Legal Reform in China on Oct. 3-4, 2005.

All presentations will be in Chinese. Speakers include:

• Mo Shaoping, director of Mo Shaoping Law Firm: "Criminal Law Legislation, Implementation, Problems and Resolutions"
• Li Jinjin, attorney at Li Jinjin Law Firm: "From Acquittal of Darrow to Charged Lawyers in China"
• Yu Jianrong, Research Fellow, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: "Social Conflicts in the Process of Transition: An Observation and Analysis of Contemporary Farmers and Workers’ Rights Advocacy Activities"
• Zhou Litai, director of Zhou Litai Law Firm: "Progressive Workers' Rights Advocacy Mechanisms"
• Richard Baum, professor of political science at UCLA: "The Need for Citizen Input and Feedback Mechanisms in a 'Rule of Law' Regime"
• Xiaoping Chen, editor of China Law Digest (www.chinalawdigest.com) and visiting scholar at Wisconsin Law School: "Rights Advocacy by Law and Its Paradox: How Much Justice Can be Realized"
• Cheng Jie, professor at Qinghua University Law School: "How to Build Due Process into Eminent Domain Laws in China"

The URL of the Center for Chinese Studies is http://www.isop.ucla.edu/ccs/index.asp, but it has not yet posted any information about this conference. For further information, contact Richard Baum or David Schaberg.

Asian Law Institute, NUS: "Reflections on Legal Education in Asia"

I have received the following announcement:

The Asian Law Institute (ASLI) Symposium
"Reflections on Legal Education in Asia"

Date: 10 - 11 November 2005, Thursday and Friday
Place: National University of Singapore (NUS)

The ASLI symposium on legal education is organized pursuant to a research project headed by the Deans of the Faculties of Law of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and National University of Singapore (NUS).

AIM

The symposium aims to bring together a distinguished group of legal scholars to present papers relating to legal education in Asia. The intention is for some of the papers to be published either in the inaugural issue of the Journal of the Asian Law Institute (ASLI) or as a monograph.

PARTICIPANTS

We would like to invite participants from your organization to the symposium. It will be an excellent opportunity to meet and forge closer ties with other scholars in Asian law and to discuss matters of interest relating to legal education in Asia.

SPEAKERS AND PROGRAMME

The two-day symposium will bring together about 20 presenters from leading institutions in Asia, and will touch on the landscape of legal education in Asia and pedagogical skills.

Please find the programme (tentative) at http://law.nus.edu.sg/asli/docs/progsymposium220905.pdf

The programme will be finalized and sent to registered participants by end October 2005. A copy will also be mounted on the web site.

REGISTRATION

Places for the symposium are limited to a maximum of 40. Registration will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Please download the Registration Form which contains information on conference fee and accommodation options at http://law.nus.edu.sg/asli/docs/RLE-Symposium.pdf.

Registration will close on 22 October 2005, or when the limit is reached, whichever is earlier.

We regret that flights and accommodation are to be arranged by participants separately and are not covered by the conference fee. Transport will, however, be arranged to and from NUS for the 2 hotel accommodation options listed.

COMMUNICATIONS

Asian Law Institute (ASLI)
c/o National University of Singapore
Faculty of Law
13 Law Link, Singapore 117590
Tel: (65) 6874 1305/6874 3604
Fax: (65) 6779 0979

Email: asli@nus.edu.sg
Website: http://www.law.nus.edu.sg/asli

China-related programs at the ABA's annual meeting

There will be three China-related programs at the ABA's annual meeting in Chicago next month. All are on Sunday, Aug. 7. For a description of the programs, click here: Download China_programs.pdf

The schedule for the entire day (and indeed, the entire meeting) is available here.

CECC hearing on "Law in Political Transitions"

Here's the text of an announcement I recently received from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China regarding an upcoming hearing in Washington, D.C.:

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold a Commission hearing entitled "Law in Political Transitions: Lessons from East Asia and the Road Ahead for China," on Tuesday, July 26 from 2:30 to 4:00 in Room 419 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building. 

All CECC hearings are open to the public and the press. Members of the public who wish to attend do not need to respond to this message or otherwise register. News media representatives should see the final paragraph of this announcement.

China's legal system is developing, but meaningful reform of its authoritarian political system has not yet taken place.  What role are law and legal institutions likely to play in China's political reform process?  This hearing will assess the state of China's rule of law development and examine the role of legal institutions in political transitions in Taiwan and South Korea to see whether these experiences suggest a path ahead for China. 

The panelists are:

Panel 1
Ms. Gretchen Birkle, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Department of State

Panel 2
Mr. Jerome A. Cohen, Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

Dr. John Fuh-sheng Hsieh, Professor of Political Science, University of South Carolina

Mr. John K. Ohnesorge, Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin School of Law

*****************************
For news media representatives: If you have no special equipment needs, you do not need to register in advance.  If you need special equipment or services (e.g., malt box, audio feed), please contact Laura Mitchell at 202-226-3795 not later than close of business on Tuesday, July 19.

Seminar: Arbitration in China (Seattle)

The Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle and the Washington State China Relations Council are putting on a presentation on arbitration in China on June 23rd in Seattle. Further details are available here. The blurb is as follows:

China has been wildly successful at attracting foreign capital investment and related trade deals. However, the perception among many foreign investors is that China's legal reforms and institutions are not impartial in contractual disputes with Chinese parties or as sophisticated as foreign laws and courts when addressing complex legal disputes. As a result, foreign investors are requiring that contractual disputes with their Chinese counterparts be resolved by means of mediation and, if that fails, international arbitration outside of China using an agreed upon set of rules and procedures. Please join us for a discussion on recent Chinese legal reforms, the New York Convention and the most common forms and forums for international arbitration utilized by foreign investors in China, as well as several model dispute resolution provisions taken from agreements involving investment in and trade with China.

CLE in Shanghai: Interpreting the NDRC Rules

The China Committee of the ABA Section on International Law is putting on a breakfast/CLE on June 24th in Shanghai that will look at the role of the National Development Reform Commission in the foreign investment approval process. Here's the descriptive blurb:

Obtaining the Ministry of Commerce's (or its predecessor's) approval of projects has been key for foreign investors wishing to access the PRC market.  In July of last year, the State Council issued its Reform of the Investment System Decision, which appeared to signal an important role for the National Development Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and perhaps a significant  step in development of a registration system instead of an approval system.  However, the Decision was broadly worded and left open the specific procedures to be applied by the NDRC.  Of keen interest to foreign investors is how the NDRC registration process will in fact fit with the MOFCOM approval process.  The NDRC subsequently adopted the Administration of the Verification of Foreign-invested Projects Tentative Procedures (issued October 9 2004), with the apparent aim of clarifying matters.  However, significant questions still remain.

For complete information, click here.

Conference: WTO, China, and the Asian Economies

A conference on WTO, China, and the Asian Economies will be held at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, China on June 25-26. It is jointly organized by faculty from Xi'an Jiaotong University, International University of Japan, and the University of Washington.

For more information, please visit the conference website.

Law-related events in Beijing this week

For anyone in Beijing, the following law-related activities are going on this week:

• Regulation of Financial Governance and Enhancement of Information Disclosure in Chinese Listed Companies, June 7, 6 p.m. (Australian Chamber of Commerce)
• The Chinese IPR System and Trademark Protection, June 9, 8:30 a.m. (Swedish Chamber of Commerce)

Law and Society Association Annual Meeting: China panel

The annual meeting of the Law and Society Association is featuring a panel on "Selective Cultural Adaptation and Legal Consciousness in Human Rights and Trade Disputes: Comparing Canada, China, and Japan" on June 5th. Prof. Pitman Potter of the University of British Columbia will be speaking (I presume) on China.