Shielding Corporate Interests, Europe Leaves NGOs Working in China by the Wayside

If ratified, the EU-China investment agreement will shield corporate interests from human rights concerns while effectively deserting European NGOs and foundations trying to work in China.

By Bertram Lang on March 30, 2021

In late December 2020, at the end of a very turbulent year in Europe-China relations, and after more than seven years of often strenuous negotiations, the European Union (EU) and China agreed on the terms of a “Comprehensive Agreement on Investment.” The European Commission and heads of state and government inked the deal despite vocal warnings from experts across Europe to allow time for further deliberation. Debates over the CAI, however, thus far have ignored the implications for non-profits, entities making public rather than private interest investments. This includes organizations working on climate crisis mitigation and sustainable development, both areas in which the EU has pledged to strengthen cooperation with China and has signaled the importance of civil society actors.

Abandoning Criticism of China’s Government Isn’t the Right Way to End Anti-Asian Racism in the U.S.

By Ho-fung Hung on March 25, 2021

The recent surge of anti-Asian violence across the U.S., culminating in the tragedy of the Atlanta shooting, reminds us that the mainstream (mis)representation of Asian Americans as a model minority never spares us from racist hatred and the perception of Asians as a “yellow peril.” What complicates the matter is that the Chinese government, having dug its heels into an intensifying rivalry with the U.S., is not missing any chance to bring up racism to delegitimize America’s democracy and highlight its hypocrisy.

Hong Kong’s Economic Future

A ChinaFile Conversation

By Ho-fung Hung, Flora Huang & more on March 11, 2021

If conventional wisdom held that China would never risk Hong Kong’s market, that was predicated on a specter of a foreign financial exodus. When the national security law was promulgated, experts warned of an international withdrawal and an end to Hong Kong’s status as a global financial capital. Thus far, that seems not to have come to pass. Hong Kong’s economy shrank a record 6 percent last year, due to the pandemic, but is forecast to recover significantly by the end of 2021. Even as the political restrictions are growing tighter, Hong Kong—with its successful COVID-19 response and strong export markets—looks to be on an economic upswing. Is it? What are key factors shaping the city’s economic future?

Leïla Choukroune

on March 9, 2021

Leïla Choukroune is a Professor of International Law at and Director of the University of Portsmouth Thematic Area in Democratic Citizenship.

Her research focuses on the interactions between international trade and investment law, human rights, development studies, jurisprudence, and social theory. For the past 20 years, it has been applied to the Global South in India, South Asia, China, and East Africa, in particular.

Choukroune has published numerous scientific articles, book chapters, and journal special issues in English, French, Spanish, and Chinese, and she has authored more than 10 books, including recently Judging the State in International Trade and Investment Law (2016), Exploring Indian Modernities (2018), Adjudicating Businesses in India (2020), and International Economic Law (2020).

She is the Editor of the Springer book series International Law and the Global South and the Routledge book series Human Rights, Citizenship and the Law. She is also Associate Editor of the Manchester Journal of International Economic Law and a member of the editorial boards of the leading peer-reviewed journals China Perspectives and Perspectives Chinoises. She is currently working on the creation of the Journal in International Law and Development with a Global South Orientation. She regularly publishes in the global media and has given a large number of interviews about her research and its impact.

Edith Terry

on March 8, 2021

Edith Terry is a writer, editor, and analyst of East Asian affairs based in Hong Kong. She directs Cotton Tree Advisors, a consultancy on East Asian business and public affairs. Terry’s career has spanned policy research, strategic consulting, international journalism, and writing on political economy, arts, and culture. She has taught and lectured on East Asian business and international relations in universities, think tanks, business organizations, and individual businesses. In 1980, she was among the first American businesspeople to be based in Beijing, and she has engaged not only with China but also with Japan and Southeast Asia for over 40 years. She is fluent in Mandarin and Japanese and proficient in Cantonese.

Flora Huang

on March 1, 2021

Flora Huang is Professor of Law and Business at Derby Law School, in the U.K. She has published two research monographs and a range of journal articles in the fields of financial and corporate law, comparative law, and Chinese law. She is currently working on a book entitled Chinese and Global Financial Integration through Stock Connect, to be published by Hart.

In addition, Huang has worked for the United Nations Environment Programme and the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Headquarters. She is an expert advisor to Legatum Institute, a leading global think-tank for the compilation of their Global Prosperity Index. She has a strong track record of research funding, including the British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, the Newton Funds, the Erasmus+ mobility programme, a City Venture Research Grant, the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, and AHRC Skills Fund.

Horace Yeung

on March 1, 2021

Horace Yeung is Associate Professor in Commercial Law at the University of Leicester. Prior to his appointment at Leicester, he taught at Exeter, Oxford and Universität Osnabrück. He completed his undergraduate study in Hong Kong before coming to the UK for his LLM at Lancaster and doctorate at Oxford. His research interests lie in corporate and financial laws, distinctively with a global, comparative, and interdisciplinary approach. He has a keen interest to look at the experience of Asia, most notably Hong Kong, his home city.