28 May 2021
Masks, vaccines, and investment promises
When the WHO declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the spread of the virus was already under control in China. Ever since Beijing has been engaging in widespread health diplomacy. China aims to promote the image of China as a “responsible great power” and of Western states in as powers in decline that are unable to provide solutions for complex international affairs. Continue reading >>
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20 May 2021
Alibaba: Punishment and Collaboration
On 6 April 2021, Alibaba, a leading e-commerce platform, was fined $2.75 billion for abuse of dominance in the Chinese market. In the weeks that followed, Chinese regulators started investigations into other giants of the platform economy, for similar anti-competitive conduct. They signify a shift in Chinese regulators’ strong determination to crack down on monopolistic conduct. Continue reading >>04 May 2021
The State Advances, the People Retreat
It is widely agreed that Wuhan, China is the origin of this pandemic. China has also been criticized for its initial mishandling of the outbreak, including local officials’ cover-up, the incompetence of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and the repression of whistle-blowers. In light of what had happened in other countries, however, China’s subsequent responses were nothing short of miraculous. From its lockdown in Wuhan, to the nationwide joint prevention and control system, from border sealing to mass testing and contact tracing, China’s measures were more intense than almost anywhere else in the world. Continue reading >>
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25 April 2021
Sanctioning the Treatment of Uighurs in China
China has been accused by various states of committing genocide against the Uighurs and other Muslim communities in recent months. Against this background, in March 2021, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada announced sanctions against the Asian hegemon. Qualifying individual targeted sanctions remains a challenge for international lawyers due to the lack of clear demarcation between sanctions framework and the country-specific restrictive measures. Nevertheless, individual sanctions remain a viable option to pressure violators but alone might not be strong enough to deliver justice to victims. Continue reading >>
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05 January 2021
Dancing with the Dragon
On 30 December 2020, the EU Commission announced that the EU and China “in principle” concluded the negotiations on a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). So far, there has only been a limited assessment of the CAI from a human rights perspective which is problematic considering recent political developments in China. This leads to the question: How does the CAI measure against the standards of the constitutional law of the EU relating to its external relations? Moreover, it is doubtful that the agreement will meet the requirements prescribed by the European Parliament in this regard. Continue reading >>27 May 2020
Corona Constitutional #30: One Country, One System
Ein Vierteljahrhundert lang hat sich Hong Kong als liberale, rechtsstaatliche Insel in einem autoritären Staat gehalten. Nun plant die chinesische Regierung ein neues Sicherheitsgesetz, das von Liberalität und Grundrechtsschutz wohl nicht viel übrig lassen wird. Im Podcast-Interview mit Max Steinbeis beleuchtet DAVID LAW von der Universität Hong Kong die verfassungsrechtlichen Hintergründe dieser bedrückenden Entwicklung, und stößt auf die dringende Frage: Welche Möglichkeiten und welche Verantwortung haben Wissenschaftler_innen, wenn es brenzlig wird im Kampf um die Freiheit? Continue reading >>
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22 March 2020
Fighting COVID 19 – Supportive Measures for Employees and Enterprises in China
Three months after the first case of COVID-19 reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China is presumably approaching its final stage of domestic control, and its present policy focus is on restoring the country to its normal running. China’s current relatively stable condition on the virus, undoubtedly, is hard-earned. Restrictive measures to fight COVID-19, typically including traffic restriction, work ban and events cancellation, have brought about profound economic implications on individual employees and enterprises. In this blogpost, I will review the legal basis and scope of these measures, followed by an examination of supportive measures for financially affected employees and enterprises respectively. Continue reading >>
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22 November 2019
The Hong Kong Judiciary and Beijing’s Temper Tantrum
On 18 November 2019, Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance held that parts of the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, and the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation enacted pursuant to the Ordinance, violate the territory’s Basic Law – its constitutional instrument. Beijing’s response to the ruling was the equivalent of a temper tantrum. Viewed in light of the Court's judgment and Beijing’s lengthy history of undermining the Hong Kong judiciary, Beijing’s latest outbursts amount to nothing less than a declaration of war on the territory’s common law legal system. Continue reading >>
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28 June 2019
A Déjà Vu? The Social Credit System and fajia (Legalism)
While it is certainly beneficial to contrast the SCS to emerging governance mechanisms in the West or principles of civil liberties, it is equally important to connect it to traditional Chinese thoughts which may have influenced the policy-makers. In view of the tendency of associating the SCS with Confucianism, this blog post concentrates on fajia (legalism), a traditional school of political and legal thought that had shaped the mode of governance in imperial China. Continue reading >>
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27 June 2019