EVENTS

Abstract

Since its accession to the WTO on 11 December 2001, China has been involved in 12 cases as complainant, 31 as respondent, and 105 as a third party. Against all pre-entry predictions, the China-related cases have not overburdened the WTO dispute settlement system, as if all parties were implicitly respecting a latent period before engaging in commercial hostilities. Often portrayed as a “passive rule taker” in the immediate aftermath of its accession, China was not only learning by attentively watching other members’ strategies, but also benefiting from the benevolent attitude of its main trading partners, the US and the EU. Moreover, its participation in 89 WTO disputes as third party is not a trivial detail nor is it a sign of passivity, but rather one of cautious preparation that corresponded to the time needed to properly apprehend its new legal tools and all rights thereunder. While there are many ways of approaching such an already vast body of decisions and related legal and economic literature, this presentation reflects the uniqueness of the Chinese trade regime and the impact of such a peculiar mix between economic liberalization and maintenance of the state on other WTO Members in addressing the following questions: the transitional product specific safeguard measures adopted in reaction to a market disruption caused by Chinese import, the antidumping and countervailing duties issue, and the restrictions on exportations or importations imposed by China for economic, but also societal and political reasons. The lessons and challenges of this new “judicial” activism for India and the BRICS will also be addressed in terms of regulatory autonomy and sovereign economic development.

About the Speaker

Leïla Choukroune is Director of Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSH), New Delhi. She is a specialist in trade and investment issues, with a unique expertise on China and India, as well as on emerging economies. She was till recently Senior Lecturer of International Economic Law with the Faculty of Law of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Her researches focus on the interactions between trade, investment and human rights and are mostly applied to emerging countries, China and India in particular. Leïla Choukroune has published numerous scientific articles in international peer reviewed journals and authored several books. Her opinion papers are published in the national and foreign press. She has taught and lectured in a large number of leading academic institutions in various countries. She is regularly solicited as an independent expert by governments, international organizations, development agencies, and multinational corporations on international economic law and business and human rights issues.