Authored by Professor Matthew Erie, Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford, this report looks at how China is contributing to the shaping of global legal norms to protect its commercial and geostrategic interests.
Based on original research and in-depth interviews with Chinese, UK and international legal practitioners and academics, it aims to provide policymakers with a better understanding of the impact that Chinese international law initiatives may have on legal norms in a global context. In doing so, the report places a particular focus on emerging areas of law such as data governance, development finance, IP law and standard setting, health law, international law enforcement/counterterrorism, and oil and gas law.
Sir Jeffrey Jowell KCMC QC, author of the report’s foreword, introduced its rationale and outlined the key questions it addresses. Professor Matthew Erie then presented the report’s main findings to a diverse audience hailing from the Supreme Court and the wider UK judiciary, the civil service, academia, the civil society sector, and the business world.
The subsequent Q&A session and exchanges covered a wide variety of issues, ranging from differences in the conception of legal norms between China and the UK to the establishment and use of Chinese dispute resolution centres in third countries.
Overall, the report—and discussions on the evening—made it clear that to project and protect its own interests in the legal domain, proactive and multi-faceted engagement is of central importance to the UK: While the costs of such engagement with China on legal norms may potentially be high, the risks of non-engagement are even greater.
If you would like a copy of the report, please email events@gbcc.org.uk.