This book presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the regulation of international trade. For this purpose, it analyses a series of integrated studies of relations between the EU, the WTO and China. It consists of three main parts. Part I introduces the basic concepts. It surveys the literature on law and globalisation, introduces the concept of sites of governance and the theory of global legal pluralism and sketches the foundations of global legal pluralism. It shows that each site of governance has both a structural dimension, consisting of institutions, norms and dispute resolution processes, and a relational dimension, comprising its relations with other sites of governance. The totality of sites of governance constitutes a new form of global legal pluralism. Part II analyses global legal pluralism in action in relations between the EU, the WTO and China. It examines the construction of relations between sites, ways in which relations between sites give rise to new legal concepts or transform the character of rules, the tension between regionalism and international integration and the governance of international production networks. It emphasises the reciprocal interaction between the structural features and the relational features of sites. Part III explores new directions in global legal pluralism. It first analyses regional trade agreements as a way of creating new sites of governance, focusing on agreements involving China. Then it considers how to enhance ethical values in international trade regulation. Based on an institutional analysis of relations between the WTO and other sites of governance, it proposes ways in which global legal pluralism can be used to reform the WTO, today the predominant institution in the regulation of international trade, including trade between the EU and China.

"China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 was hailed as the natural conclusion of a long march that started with the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s. However, China's participation in the WTO since joining has been anything but smooth, and its self-proclaimed "socialist market economy" system has alienated many of its global trading partners - as recent tensions with the United States exemplify. Prevailing diplomatic attitudes tend to focus on two diametrically opposing approaches to dealing with the emerging problems: the first is to demand that China completely overhaul its economic regime; the second is to stay idle and accept that the WTO must accommodate different economic regimes, no matter how idiosyncratic and incompatible. In this book, Mavroidis and Sapir propose a third approach. They point out that, while the WTO (as well as its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT]) has previously managed the accession of socialist countries or of big trading nations, it has never before dealt with a country as large or as powerful as China. Therefore, in order to simultaneously uphold its core principles and accommodate China's unique geopolitical position, the authors argue that the WTO needs to translate some of its implicit legal understanding into explicit treaty language. Focusing on two core complaints - that Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) benefit from unfair trade advantages, and that domestic companies (both private as well as SOEs) impose forced technology transfer on foreign companies as a condition for accessing the Chinese market - they lay out their specific proposals for successful legislative amendment"--.

The European Union (EU) has now become the largest trade partner of China. While Sino-US trade relations and particularly the high-profile trade disputes between the US and China get considerable academic attention for geopolitical reasons, less research has been done on the Sino-EU trade disputes that gradually loom large on the horizon. This book delves into the trade disputes between China and the EU and identifies the causes for trade disputes. It examines how the disputes will shape China-EU trade relations, and offers a macro overview on how the issues can be resolved or at least how they should be managed.This timely book sheds light on Sino-EU trade disputes, putting these in global perspective and enriching the literature in this regard.

This book delves into the trade disputes between the EU and China and identifies the causes for trade disputes. It examines how the disputes will shape the China-EU trade relations, and offers a macro overview on how the issues can be resolved or at least how they should be managed.

This work analyses the implications for world trade of China's entry into the World Trade Organization. It has taken fifteen long years of dialogue and heated debate and it will take its place among the other members at the end of 2001. This momentous event is relayed by the next WTO Chairman.

Two major themes in contemporary international relations—Sino-European relations and global governance—are both addressed in this volume. In its focused analysis of Sino-European relations, global governance serves as both a topic for analysis and a conceptual framework to join together individual chapters. Featuring perspectives from a diverse group of established and promising young scholars from China, Europe, and elsewhere, this book has important implications for Chinese foreign policy, the European Union, the future of global governance, and international relations at large.

This book explains the rise of China, India, and Brazil in the international trading system, and the implications for trade law.