Time: 10:00 - 12:00pm Venue: Room LG6, Queen's Building, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Since China adopted its 'open door' policy in 1978, which altered its development strategy from self-sufficiency to active participation in the world market, its goal has remained unchanged: to assist the readjustment of China's economy, to coordinate its modernization programs, and to improve its quality of life. With the 1997 launch of the 'Going Global' policy, an outward focus regarding foreign investment was added, to circumvent trade barriers and improve the competitiveness of Chinese firms. In order to accommodate inward and outward investment, China's participation in the international investment regime has underpinned its efforts to join multilateral investment-related legal instruments and conclude international investment agreements. This lecture explores the three distinct tracks of China's investment policy and strategy: bilateral agreements including those with the US and the EU; regional agreements including the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific; and global initiatives, spear-headed by China's presidency of the G20 and its 'Belt and Road initiative'. The lecture’s overarching topic is whether these three tracks compete with each other, or whether they complement one another - a question of profound importance for the country's political and economic future and world investment governance.
Dr Julien Chaisse is Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Faculty of Law. He is an award-winning scholar of international law with a special focus on the regulation and development of economic globalization. His teaching and research include international trade/investment law, international taxation, law of natural resources, and Internet law. Through collaborative research projects and networks, Dr Chaisse has forged connections to scholars from around the globe. Standing collaborations include the Jean Monnet Network ‘The European Union at the Crossroads of Global Order’ (EUCROSS), and various projects focusing on global economic governance. Dr Chaisse held the appointment of Director of the Centre for Financial Regulation and Economic Development at CUHK Law from 2013 to 2017, and has established forward-looking legal projects and events in Hong Kong, including the series of "Asia FDI Forum," which has become the most prominent conference on foreign investment law and economics in Asia. Since September 2017, he is the Director of the Law Faculty Research Postgraduates Programme (Ph.D. and M.Phil.).
Dr Chaisse is frequently invited to lecture at many academic institutions and leading universities around the world, including Columbia University (U.S.), University of Aix-Marseille (France), University of Oxford (U.K.), Melbourne University (Australia), Tokyo University (Japan), and Tsinghua University (China). Dr Chaisse has published numerous well-regarded and widely-cited books and articles, such as recently “China's International Investment Strategy,” Oxford University Press (2019); "The Regulation of Global Water Services Market," Cambridge University Press (2017); "International Economic Law and Governance," Oxford University Press (2016); "Shareholder Protection Reloaded," Stanford Journal of International Law (2016).