From August 3 to 6, at the invitation of Dean of the School of Law, justice Zhang Yuejiao from WTO Appellate Body visited XJTU and was conferred “Zheng He Researcher” by the Research Institute of Silk Road International Law and Comparative Law”.
On the morning of August 5, justice Zhang Yuejiao delivered an English keynote speech the Comparative Study on the Dispute Settlement Mechanisms of WTO and International Investment Treaty to the faculty and students of Law. The meeting was chaired by the dean of the School of Law professor Shan Wenhua. The former director of the Lauterpacht International Law Research Center of Cambridge University professor James Crawford who was lecturing in XJTU, an associate professor from Dutch Leiden University Dr. Freya Baetens , associate professor Liang Danni from the School of Law of Zhongshan University and faculty and students of Law attended the meeting. Justice Zhang Yuejiao compared the system designs of WTO and international investment dispute settlement mechanism in details from three aspects: the overlap of international trade and investment law administration mechanism, the similarity and difference of WTO and ICSID, and the reform of international economic dispute settlement mechanism. She argued that WTO and ICSID overlapped in regulation and might result in systematic risks like parallel lawsuits, since trade and investment activities were inherently connected. . Justice Zhang Yuejiao compared the differences between WTO and ICSID in the extent of jurisdiction, case acceptance procedure, applicable law, execution mechanism of rulings, and appealing/cancelling mechanism etc and probed into the improvement approaches to international economic dispute settlement mechanism by taking Philip Morris’ lawsuit against Australia as an example.
On the afternoon of August 5, the conferral ceremony of “Zheng He Researcher” to justice Zhang Yuejiao by the Research Institute of the Silk Road International Law and Comparative Law was held at Nanyang Hotel. The party secretary of XJTU Zhang Maizeng conferred the certificate to justice Zhang Yuejiao. The assistant president professor Rong Mingzhe, the dean of the School of Law professor Shan Wenhua, the director of the president’s office Ms Bai Xiaoxuan and the director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges Dr. Liang Li attended the appointment ceremony.
“Zheng He Researcher” (for Asian scholars) and “Marco Polo Researcher” (for western scholars) are top honorary researcher titles created by the Research Institute of the Silk Road International Law and Comparative Law of XJTU. They are conferred to the world-famous scholars having made great contribution to the discipline construction of the research institute. It’an endeavor of the research institute to further upgrade researches, strengthen international impact and promote the high-level international exchanges .Now, the recipients of the title from the research institute are :the president of China University of Politics and Law professor Huang Jin, the former directors of the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Duan Jielong and Mr. Huang Huikang, and the honorary faculty member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences professor Liu Nan. The recipients of the “Marco Polo Researcher” are: the secretary general of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes(ICSID),the president of German Max-Planck –Institut für Ausländisches und Internationales Privatrecht professor Jürgen Basedow, famous Egyptian international jurist ,the temporary judge of the International Court, the former justice of WTO Appellate Body and the academician of the World International Law Research Institute professor Georges Michel Abi-Saab, the famous Croatian international jurist and the academician of the World International Law Research Institute professor Vladimir-Djuro Degan, and the famous Canadian international jurist, British “royal” senior lawyer and the former president and academician of the International Law Research Institute professor Edward McWhinney.
Justice Zhang Yuejiao now is the member of the Appellate Body of WTO Dispute Settlement Institution and a professor of the School of Law, Tsinghua University. Justice Zhang Yuejiao successively graduated from French Hannah University and American Georgetown University. She was the assistant head, head,, director, vice director of the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Chinese Foreign Economy and Trade, the legal advisor of the Law Department of the World Bank, the assistant legal advisor, the vice director general of East Asia Bureau ,the vice director general of the Mei Gong Area Bureau, the chairwoman of the Appealing Committee and the director general of Europe Bureau of Asia Development Bank. She was the general legal advisor on China’s entry into WTO and she took part in drafting the legislations like Sino-Joint Venture Law and Special Economic Zone Regulation etc. In November 27, 2007, she was officially appointed as the member of Appellate Body (justice) by WTO Dispute Settlement Institution. This was the first time that a Chinese person was appointed to such an important position in WTO.