Tag: Belt and Road

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Annual ‘One Belt, One Road’ Law Summit Attended by Pia Letto-Vanamo, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki

On 27-28 September 2018, Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki and a member of the board of the Finnish China Law Center, attended the 2018 annual summit of the New Silk Road Law Schools Alliance.

The Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, one of the 10 member institutions of the Finnish China Law Center, is one of the founding members of the Alliance.

The Summit was hosted by the People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) Law School, and was the fourth Summit since the establishment of the Alliance at Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2015, with the following two Summits organised respectively by the law schools of the University of New South Wales (Australia), and Wuhan University (China).

The 2018 Annual Summit included academic discussions and a meeting of Alliance deans.

The academic sessions included the book launch of the edited volume by Professor Wenhua SHAN, Professor Kimmo Nuotio, and Mr. Kangle Zhang. Professor Nuotio is Professor of Criminal Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki and Kangle Zhang, who also attended and spoke at the Summit, is a Doctoral Researcher in the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki.

The Summit also included presentations by participants from various member law schools on topics such as business activities and human rights along the Belt and Road (Professor Michael Hor of the University of Hong Kong), dispute settlement of electronic commerce (Professor Yun ZHAO of the University of Hong Kong), and environmental rights along the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative (Kangle ZHANG of University of Helsinki).

 

Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, in middle front of photo, pictured with other attendees of the Annual Summit of the New Silk Road Law Schools Alliance in RUDN University, 27-28 September 2018. Photo courtesy of RUDN University.

 

At the deans’ meetings, issues including academic collaboration amongst member law schools, publication of research results, comparative law education and student exchange programs.

Law Schools represented at the Summit include the University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Wuhan University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, University of New South Wales, University of Belgrade, University of Bergen, People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), and the University of Helsinki.

Thanks to Kangle Zhang, Doctoral Researcher in the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, for contributing to this article.

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Seminar on Chinese IP Law and China and Global Governance Hosted by University of Lapland

On 12 November, the University of Lapland, in collaboration with the IPR University Center, hosted a seminar focusing on Chinese intellectual property law and China’s role in global governance.

The seminar, titled ‘Ongoing Reforms in Chinese and European Legal Frameworks’, was sponsored by the IPR University Center Association. The University of Lapland is one of the six Finnish institutions of the IPR University Center and a member of the Finnish China Law Center.

The event was free and open to the public, and was of interest to a variety of audiences including lawyers,  the business sector (including startups and entrepreneurs), students and scholars, as well as to the legislature and policymakers.

Event speakers included Professor Li Mingde, Director of the Intellectual Property Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a key Chinese partner of the Finnish China Law Center.

Professor Li Mingde of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Photo credit: http://www.iolaw.org.cn)

Other key speakers included Sheng Hongsheng, Professor of Public International Law at Shanghai University of Political Sciences and Law and Director of the OBOR Judicial Research Institute at the the Supreme People’s Court.

Professor Matti Nojonen, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Finnish China Law Center, also spoke.

Registration for the event was not compulsory. For those students who wished to gain 2 ECTS upon the attendance of the whole event, the event organized requested registration by 8 November.

The full program and list of speakers, as well as details on student registration, was available on the website of the University of Lapland.

University of Lapland (Photo credit: University of Lapland).

About the conference:

According to the latest figures from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China filed the most patents of any country worldwide in 2015, with Chinese companies registering more than 1.3 million patents, in 2017, an increase of 14.2% per year since 2015. China’s rise as an economy focused on high-quality development, is a substantially significant economic event.

The expanding range of China’s economic interactions has provoked the most recent attention to China as an emerging superpower. China’s economic successes are impressive enough and deserve attention; they reflect China’s late entry into the international community, in organs such as UN and World Bank. Therefore, it is of vital importance to understand China’s role in the international legal system and to examining possible alterations in China’s foreign policy principles, laws and practices.

The seminar focused on different points:

  • Discussion of the ongoing reforms in these Chinese legal landscapes and contextualize and compare them to the ongoing reforms that are occurring in the European legal systems.
  • As Beijing has announced it will take more active role in international affairs, will the China’s traditional conventional role and approach to international law change?
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Book launch of ‘Normative Readings of the Belt and Road Initiative: Road to New Paradigms’ (Springer 2018)

On 29 August 2018, the Finnish China Law Center and the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki hosted the launch of the new book, Normative Readings of the Belt and Road Initiative: Road to New Paradigms (Springer 2018).

The book, edited by University of Helsinki scholars Professor Kimmo Nuotio and Doctoral Candidate Kangle Zhang, is an international collaboration with Chinese scholars.

Professor Shan Wenhua, Dean of the School of Law and founding Director of the Silk Road Institute for International and Comparative Law (SRIICL) at Xi’an Jiaotong University, also co-edited the publication.

Front cover of the new publication (picture courtesy of Springer).

The event was hosted by the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo.

An overview of the book and its main themes was given by one of the editors, Professor Kimmo Nuotio.

Comments on the new book were provided by Professor Ditlev Tamm (University of Copenhagen) and Associate Professor Chen Yifeng (Peking University), who is also Docent in the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki.

The event was free and open to the public.

About the new book

The edited volume of 12 chapters provides normative readings on China’s foreign affairs ‘master plan’ and signature policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative.

According to Professor Kimmo Nuotio, co-editor and author of the book’s epilogue, the publication is an international effort that aims to shed light on under-explored non-trade normative aspects of China’s epic global infrastructure project, as well as the initiative’s socio-legal implications.

‘The book focuses on aspects of the so-called ‘New Silk Road’ Initiative that we thought deserved more attention, such as issues relating to culture and legal philosophy, environmental law and protection, social responsibility, and the rule of law, judiciary and the role of lawyers’, Professor Nuotio says.

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China’s Arctic Policy – The ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative and the Nordic Countries

On 22 August 2018, the Finnish China Law Center, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, hosted a guest lecture titled ‘China’s Arctic Policy – The ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative and the Nordic Countries’.

The lecture was delivered by Egill Thor Nielsson, Executive Secretary of the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center (CNARC), Visiting Scholar at the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) and Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), and Affiliated Researcher at the Institute of International Affairs, University of Iceland.

The event was free and open to the public.

Background 

China published its first Arctic Policy White Paper in January 2018 following years of preparation, including an introduction of a proposed ‘Polar Silk Road’. Prior to this, China joined the Arctic Council as an observer in 2013 and included the Arctic region in its Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative in June 2017.

What does it mean that China’s so-called ‘Belt and Road’ initiative has entered the Arctic region? How is this likely to affect potential Arctic investment and trade and influence legal developments?

This lecture will focus on China’s Arctic engagement, cooperation with the Nordic countries (including through the platform provided by CNARC), and its impact on Arctic developments in an evolving world order.

The event will be of interest to researchers, policy-makers, civil servants and those from civil society, as well as business people with an interest in both the Arctic region and in China’s overseas activities.

Egill Thor Nielsson, Executive Secretary of the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center, will speak in the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, on 22 August 2018. Photograph supplied.

 

 

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Lecture by Dr Sanna Kopra on her new book ‘China and Great Power Responsibility for Climate Change’ (Routledge 2018)

On 14 August 2018, Dr Sanna Kopra gave a public lecture on her recently published book, China and Great Power Responsibility for Climate Change (Routledge 2018) at the University of Helsinki, one of the Finnish China Law Center’s 10 member institutions.

Dr Kopra spoke at the Aleksanteri Institute (Unioninkatu 33) in the University of Helsinki, one of the world’s largest and best-known centres in the field of Russian and Eastern European studies.

The event was free, open to the public and registration was not necessary.

Cover of Dr Kopra’s new book, China and Great Power Responsibility for Climate Change (Routledge 2018). Picture credit: www.crcpress.com.

About the speaker

Dr Kopra is a specialist on China and environmental responsibility. Her publications include academic articles and popular science texts on China’s climate policy, Arctic governance, sustainable development and international environmental responsibility. Her professional positions include Postdoctoral Researcher in the Aleksanteri Institute and Member of Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), both located in the University of Helsinki.

 

Dr Kopra speaking at another recent event about her book. Photo credit: Lena Gorbacheva, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki.

About the book

Based on a premise that great powers have unique responsibilities in international society, Dr Kopra’s book explores the way China’s rise to great power status transforms the notions of great power responsibility in general and in the context of international climate politics in particular. The book produces empirical knowledge on the Chinese party–state’s conceptions of state responsibility and the influence of those notions on China’s role in international climate politics.

Regarding theory, the book builds on and contributes to the English School of International Relations and argues that the international norm of climate responsibility is an emerging attribute of great power responsibility. The book also discusses the way China will act out its climate responsibility in the future and ponders broader implications of China’s evolving notions of great power responsibility for climate change. Thus, it seeks to shed new light on the transformations China’s rise will yield and the kind of great power China will prove to be.

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Scholars from the University of Helsinki Team with Chinese Researchers for New Book on China’s ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative

Scholars from the University of Helsinki, one of the Finnish China Law Center’s 10 member institutions, have in collaboration with Chinese scholars written and edited a recently published book, Normative Readings of the Belt and Road Initiative: Road to New Paradigms (Springer 2018).

The edited volume of 12 chapters provides normative readings on China’s foreign affairs ‘master plan’ and signature policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative.

Professor Kimmo Nuotio of the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki co-edited the book and penned its epilogue.

He says the publication was an international effort that aims to shed light on under-explored non-trade normative aspects of China’s epic global infrastructure project, as well as the initiative’s socio-legal implications.

‘The book focuses on aspects of the so-called ‘New Silk Road’ Initiative that we thought deserved more attention, such as issues relating to culture and legal philosophy, environmental law and protection, social responsibility, and the rule of law, judiciary and the role of lawyers’.

‘Given the scale and importance of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative, we also felt it necessary that the book generate critical insights into how the project could or should develop and be better regulated’, Professor Nuotio says.

The book was also edited by Professor Shan Wenhua, one of China’s leading scholars on the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative.

Professor Shan is founding Dean of the School of Law and founding Director of the Silk Road Institute for International and Comparative Law (SRIICL) at Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Doctoral Researcher Zhang Kangle of the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, also co-edited the publication and authored a chapter on the relationship between China’s new financial institutions and the country’s global strategy.

Dr Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaca, also of the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, contributed a chapter on ‘Strengthening the Cultural and Normative Foundations of the Belt and Road Initiative: The Colombo Plan, Yan Xuetong and Chinese Ancient Thought’.

The book is available for loan from the library of the University of Helsinki and for purchase online.

Front cover of the new publication (picture courtesy of Springer).
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Sino-Nordic Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative, Sustainable Development and Law: Nordic Center, Fudan University 29 – 30 October 2018

On 29 – 30 October 2018, the Nordic Centre at Fudan University will host the conference Belt & Road Initiative, Sustainable Development and Law: Sino-Nordic Perspectives.

The conference will focus on issues related to the so-called ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, a major international development and infrastructure project of the Chinese government and a signature policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Four themes will be addressed during the conference: (1) The legal and sustainability significance of the BRI (2) National, regional and global dimensions (3) Specific fields of law and sustainability; and (4) Practitioners’ legal perspectives.

The conference is a biannual event initiated by the University of Oslo, which co-organizes the event with Nordic institutions Lund University and the University of Reykjavik, as well as with two Chinese Law Schools (Fudan University and Tsinghua University).

A tentative conference program can be found on the website of the Nordic Center at Fudan University.

Call for papers and key dates

The conference language is English. Selected papers of the conference will be published in English.

The deadline for abstracts (500 words) is 11 June 2018.

The deadline for draft papers (5000 – 10000 words) is 15 September 2018.

Abstracts and draft papers should be sent to Maria Lundberg at the University of Oslo at a.m.c.lundberg (at) nchr.uio.no.

More information

For more information, please contact Maria Lundberg at the University of Oslo on a.m.c.lundberg (at) nchr.uio.no or Magnus Jorem at the Nordic Center, Fudan University on magnus (at) nordiccentre.net.

 

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NORDIC CHINA LAW WEEK 2018: SEMINAR ON TRADE GOVERNANCE OF CHINA’S ‘BELT AND ROAD’ INITIATIVE

To mark the start of Nordic China Law Week 2018, on 17 April 2018 the Finnish China Law Center and Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki hosted a seminar on the theme ‘Trade Governance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Economic Logic and Institutional Arrangements’.

The keynote address was delivered by Professor Cheng Dawei of the Renmin University School of Economics, which has been consistently ranked by the Chinese Ministry of Education as the best university in China in both theoretical and applied economics.

Professor Cheng is Dean of the International Business Program at the Renmin University School of Economics and the author of seven books, including Belt and Road Initiative China’s Trade Governance and Policy (Routledge, May 2018).

Professor Cheng Dawei (Renmin University), speaking at the opening event of Nordic China Law Week 2018 (17 – 23 April 2018) in the University of Helsinki.

Professor Cheng’s keynote presentation addressed issues including the economic logic of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative, value choices of its trade governance and the OBOR Initiative’s institutional and legal arrangements.

She also discussed what the future holds for this huge infrastructure project, a signature project of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

‘After assuming office, President Xi Jinping emphasized the value of global governance research’, Professor Cheng said.

‘Since the proposal and implementation of OBOR, China has introduced a number of new terms associated with global governance, such as ‘connectivity’ and ‘three communities of common destiny’. Collectively, these terms form China’s unique ideology on global governance’.

Professor Cheng said that OBOR is the largest regional cooperation initiative ever, covering Asia, Europe, and Africa.

‘At one end is the active East Asian economic circle, and at the other is the developed European economic circle, collectively involving over 60 countries, 60% of the global population, and a third of the world’s gross domestic product’.

Professor Cheng said that OBOR ‘respects the existing rules and frameworks of the multilateral system and has not been established to disrupt this system’.

‘On the contrary, China remains one of the strongest supporters of the existing multilateral system’.

Professor Cheng Dawei, author of ‘Belt and Road Initiative: China’s Trade Governance and Policy’ (Routledge, May 2018), presenting the keynote address during the seminar on ‘Trade Governance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Economic Logic and Institutional Arrangements’, 17 April 2018.

At the same time, Professor Cheng argued that ‘based on the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO), China should establish OBOR trade governance theories that supplement, subdue, and innovate existing multilateral trade governance theories’.

‘The advancement and progress of OBOR should perpetually abide by WTO rules and accept the constraints established by the WTO’, Professor Cheng emphasized.

Professor Cheng concluded by noting that OBOR is a national trade strategy and does not contain mandatory laws.

‘Therefore, the existing rules of the WTO provide institutional support for OBOR’.

In his remarks, seminar moderator Dr Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaça of the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki thanked Professor Cheng for speaking during the opening of Nordic China Law Week 2018, summarized the core aspects of Professor Cheng’s address and challenged several of the arguments she advanced during her talk.

A lively discussion ensued between Professor Cheng, Dr Vilaça and seminar participants.

Dr Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaça, moderator of the opening event of Nordic China Law Week 2018, in discussion with Professor Cheng (Renmin University) following her address on trade governance of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.

The event, organized with the support of the University of Helsinki Chinese Studies and Confucius Institute at the University of Helsinki, was one of many during Nordic China Law Week 2018. Other events included:

Wednesday 18 April: Latest Developments in Chinese Intellectual Property Law

Wednesday 18 April: How Important is China’s Constitution in the Chinese Legal System?

Thursday 19 April: China Law Research Workshop

Friday 20 April: Nordic China Law Scholars Meeting

Monday 23 April: Seminar: What People Management Practices Work Best in China Today? Cultural and Legal Perspectives

Monday 23 April: Information Session on Online Chinese Legal Research