In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Gerd Altmann, Binary Thinking (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The OpenAI drama made my preplanned talk on AI legal tools delivered last Friday to a delegation of Chinese lawyers visiting Washington D.C. unexpectedly timely. The firing and re-hiring of CEO Sam Altman inspired in-depth discussions of opportunities and concerns related to these tools. In the case of China, the Chinese leadership may come to the conclusion that the opportunities presented by these tools outweigh the concerns and move to take steps that can directly help develop more reliable AI legal tools and indirectly bring about effective legal reforms in the country.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Circe Denyer, Cargo Ship On A River Passageway (Publicdomainpictures.net)

In his speech delivered at the recent Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Chinese President XI Jinping emphasized the need to “keep in mind the people’s expectations”. He also announced eight actions that China will take to support the “high-quality” development of the Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI”). What expectations do people in BRI partner countries have for the initiative? Do the eight actions announced by China have the potential to align well with these expectations?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Petr Kratochvil, Apartment Building Pattern (Publicdomainpictures.net)

How courts in China handle cases involving struggling real estate developers will affect foreign investors’ confidence in the entire Chinese market. The Supreme People’s Court recently highlighted the enforcement of a series of cases involving a real estate developer. These cases provide indications illuminating how courts in China are expected to follow suit to achieve “good political, social, and legal effects”.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Images: Kai Stachowiak, Background Wallpaper;
icon0 com, China Flag Themes Idea (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Is there any chance for a private enterprise to win a lawsuit against a state-owned enterprise or a government agency in China? In an apparent attempt to boost confidence in the Chinese market, the Supreme People’s Court of China has signaled an affirmative answer to this question by releasing two court cases. Will the positive treatment of private enterprises, as demonstrated in these two cases, become a norm?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Kai Stachowiak, Business (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The Chinese leadership just released a document to reaffirm the value of private enterprises and to urge the implementation of actions that will help address a wide range of problems facing these enterprises. Will this lead to a new wave of entrepreneurship mirroring the success of earlier waves that gave rise to well-known companies such as Tencent?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Kai Stachowiak, Background Wallpaper (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The global legal services market has been predicted to grow to USD 1,311.63 billion by 2031, with the fastest-growing regions being South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe and it is estimated that their compound annual growth rates will range from 11.1% to 8.9%. What are the implications of these predictions for lawyers and rule-of-law developments in China?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Images: Peter Griffin, Bullet Train;
Victoria Borodinova, Bedouin, Desert, Caravan, Camels (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Long before the emergence of AI chatbots, China had already prioritized the development of AI, resulting in the promulgation of pioneering legislation to boost foreign investment. Applying similar long-term planning skills, China began years ago to revive the glory of Xi’an, the eastern terminus of the ancient Silk Road, by enhancing the city’s capacity to resolve legal disputes arising from China’s current Belt and Road Initiative. Xi’an’s recent hosting of the China–Central Asia Summit has signaled the city’s potential to facilitate again the economic development in this region. These achievements are quite remarkable. How did China get here and where will this likely lead to? Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Images: icon0 com, China Flag Themes Idea;
Victoria Borodinova, Brazil Flag, Brazil, Friendship (Publicdomainpictures.net)

In their recent joint statement on climate change, China and Brazil stress the need to combine “urgent climate responses” with the protection of nature to, among other goals, eradicate hunger. Accomplishing these goals will not be easy because some are conflicting. High-yielding seeds needing little agricultural inputs to grow seem to be the panacea required. Are legal tools available to help incentivize the development of such seeds?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Kieran Sinclair, Great Wall Of China 1 (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Since being confirmed as President of the People’s Republic of China for an unprecedented third term, XI Jinping has quickly produced a series of high-profile diplomatic achievements, including the recent normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran mediated by China. What legacy will this early success lead to?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Yiting Liu, Happy Extended Family Isolated On White (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Jiangxi, an inner Chinese province neighboring three prosperous coastal provinces, i.e., Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, has defied China’s national population decline to gain population growth. What is Jiangxi’s recipe for success? Can useful lessons be derived from this success and adopted by other regions in China?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Andrea Stöckel, New Year New Years Eve Sparkler (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The Supreme People’s Court’s issuance of 26 new Guiding Cases, China’s de facto binding precedents, during the last few weeks of 2022 brought the total number of these cases issued in the entire year to 33, a record-high number that has only been matched in 2019. A comparison of Guiding Cases released before and after 2019 shows positive developments and, as explained in this article, gives optimism for 2023.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Last Sunday, Dr. Mei Gechlik delivered a keynote speech titled Zhejiang, Case Guidance, and China’s Global Economic Development at a conference held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The speech turned out to be timely as on the same day, a Chinese Communist Party leader visited Alibaba, the e-commerce giant headquartered in Zhejiang. The visit not only marked the first of this type since Alibaba faced serious regulatory investigations, but also occurred only two days after President Xi Jinping chaired the country’s economic working conference, at which China’s “platform enterprises” (e.g., Alibaba) were called upon to “show their talents in leading [the country’s] development, job creation, and international competition”.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Dawn Hudson, Globe Watercolour (Publicdomainpictures.net)

U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent meeting with Chinese President XI Jinping has eased the growing tension between the two countries, giving rise to hope that the difficult Taiwan issue will be unlikely to trigger conflict in the near future. This development is in line with the mainstream stance taken by people in Taiwan. The majority of respondents to surveys conducted from 1994 to 2022 have expressed their wish to see Taiwan (a) maintain the status quo and then decide the future at a later date; or (b) maintain the status quo indefinitely. What does this signal to leaders in Beijing? What can be done in the interim?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Kai Stachowiak, Block Chain (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The race to have a platform through which many countries can use their central bank digital currencies (“CBDCs”) to safely, efficiently, and inexpensively settle cross-border deals has drawn even more attention after China and three other jurisdictions recently announced their success in testing their blockchain-powered platform, mBridge. What are China’s expectations for mBridge? Will the success of mBridge drive other countries, including the United States, to seriously consider their own CBDC plans?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Peter Griffin, Rural China (Publicdomainpictures.net)

China’s draft rules on online small loan business drew worldwide attention in late 2020 when the regulatory requirements therein were believed to have caused Ant Group’s IPO setback. Will China’s prioritized development of rural areas speed up the adoption of the draft rules, the explicit function of which is to serve, inter alia, “farmers”? Will current restrictions on foreign investment in this area be lifted?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: dencg (Shutterstock.com)

China has set a goal to construct “digital China” by, inter alia, “accelerating the construction of a digital economy, a digital society, and a digital government”. The role of China’s “digital government” in these digital initiatives was not clear until a significant document on the topic was issued in June 2022. The document further provides a glimpse of the direction that the new Chinese leadership will likely continue when they are at the helm after the conclusion of the forthcoming Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: PopTika (Shutterstock.com)

Following the release of an ambitious Metaverse action plan, Shanghai took the lead to pass a regulation on the promotion of the city’s artificial intelligence industries. Will the regulation, together with China’s foreign investment catalogue, drive more capital and talent to this prominent Chinese city?Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: elwynn (Shutterstock.com)

Since late 2021, China has been pushing the development of the Metaverse and expressing its keen interest in joining the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, which was signed by Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore in June 2020. These efforts and their latest developments, together with President XI Jinping’s current visit to Central Asia, help show China’s strategic preparations for the future.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: posteriori (Shutterstock.com)

The coming into effect of the Measures for the Security Assessment of Outbound Data Transfers (the “Measures”) on September 1 is expected to trigger a series of security assessments conducted by the Cyberspace Administration of China (the “CAC”). Any “data processor” planning to transfer to another country “important data” collected and generated inside China is required to pass the CAC’s security assessment. If the CAC decides against the data processor, can the CAC’s decision be challenged in court? Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: chaythawin (Shutterstock.com)

Despite various economic challenges facing China, the country’s cross-border e-commerce stands out to show rapid growth. The seeds of this growth were, however, not planted erratically as a response to economic woes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how this type of commerce has gained governmental support and what latest measures have been taken to resolve related disputes helps businesses seeking to sell globally seize potentially lucrative opportunities.Read more