SMU-Asia Pacific Law Review Workshop

The neoliberal international order that propels the postwar trade regime is now encountering multifaceted threats. The impasse of WTO negotiations, the Covid-19 pandemic, the US-China rivalry, and geopolitical conflicts in Ukraine have led to diverse forms of protectionism and disrupted global supply chains. Amid these challenges, new Asian regionalism has emerged to construct the regional architecture and will have profound implications for the multilateral trading system. 

The purpose of this Workshop is to understand cutting-edge legal issues of Asian integration from interdisciplinary perspectives. Invited academics will provide insight into most recent developments in economic agreements and focus on issues arising from tariff and services trade liberalisation, investment protection, dispute settlement, tax reforms, AI and e-commerce, and sustainable development.

This Workshop is organised by the Centre for Commercial Law in Asia of the Singapore Management University Yong Pung How School of Law, and is funded by the EU Jean Monnet Chair programme and the Korea Foundation. Selected papers will be published in the special issue of the Asia Pacific Law Review edited by Professor Julien Chaisse (City University of Hong Kong) and Professor Pasha L. Hsieh (SMU).  

Programme  

2:00pm (Singapore/Hong Kong time)
Opening Remarks

Yip Man, Director, Centre for Commercial Law in Asia, SMU
Julien Chaisse, Editor-in-Chief, Asia Pacific Law Review
Pasha L. Hsieh, Associate Dean (Faculty Matters & Research), SMU Yong Pung How School of Law

2:10pm
Workshop Panel 1
Chair: Julien Chaisse

Presentation I: Dynamics on Asia Pacific Trade Integration
Presenter: Soo Yeon Kim, NUS
Lead Discussant: James Nedumpara, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

Presentation II: Trade in Goods/Tariffs (and Trade Remedies and Non-Market Economies)
Presenter: Deborah Elms, Asian Trade Centre
Lead Discussant: Prabhash Ranjan, OP Jindal Global University

Presentation III: Industrial Policy in Asia Pacific Integration
Presenter: Sherzod Shadikhodjaev, Korea Development Institute
Lead Discussant: Deborah Elms, Asia Trade Center

Presentation IV: State Owned Enterprises and the Principle of Competitive Neutrality in Asia Pacific 
Presenter: Xueji Su, City University of Hong Kong
Lead Discussant: Sherzod Shadikhodjaev, Korea Development Institute

3:30pm
Workshop Panel 2
Chair: Pasha L. Hsieh

Presentation V: The Regionalization of International Investment Law
Presenter: Prabhash Ranjan, OP Jindal Global University
Lead Discussant: Xueji Su, City University of Hong Kong

Presentation VI: Clean Energies, Environment, and IEL in Asia Pacific 
Presenter: Michelle Limenta, Universitas Pelita Harapan
Lead Discussant: Yueming Yan, SMU

Presentation VII: Sustainable Development and Labour 
Presenter: Yueming Yan, SMU
Lead Discussant: Michelle Limenta, Universitas Pelita Harapan

4:30pm
Workshop Panel 3
Chair: Lau Kwan Ho

Presentation VIII: Regional Integration through Trade in Services/E-commerce
Presenters: Neha Mishra, Geneva Graduate Institute & Ana María Palacio Valencia, Parliament of Victoria, Australia
Lead Discussant: Thomas Streinz, NYU

Presentation IX: Data, Digital Technologies and AI 
Presenter: Thomas Streinz, NYU
Lead Discussant: Ana María Palacio Valencia, Parliament of Victoria, Australia

Presentation X: International Trade and Investment Dispute Settlement in Asia Pacific 
Presenter: James Nedumpara, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
Lead Discussant: Soo Yeon Kim, NUS

5:30pm
Closing Remarks
Julien Chaisse, Editor-in-Chief, Asia Pacific Law Review
Pasha L. Hsieh, Associate Dean (Faculty Matters & Research), SMU Yong Pung How School of Law

5:35pm
End of Workshop

Chairs

Julien Chaisse
Professor
School of Law, City University of Hong Kong

Dr Julien Chaisse currently serves as professor at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), School of Law. He is an award-winning and world-renowned expert on international economic law (trade, investment, and tax), cyberlaw, and international dispute resolution. His work has garnered wide academic recognition and has been cited by international courts/tribunals as well as the U.S. Courts.  He is the recipient of the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize from the International Arbitration Club of New York (2020) and the awardee of the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (2021). Dr. Chaisse writes a regular column ("The Global Lawyer") for The Financial Times’ fDI Intelligence Magazine, where he discusses current events in foreign investment law and politics.

Pasha L. Hsieh
Jean Monnet Chair Professor and Associate Dean (Faculty Matters & Research)
Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University

Pasha L. Hsieh is Jean Monnet Chair Professor and Associate Dean (Faculty Matters & Research) at the Singapore Management University Yong Pung How School of Law. Prior to academia, he served as a Legal Affairs Officer at the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat and as an associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP.

Hsieh’s teaching and research focus on international economic law, public international law and Asian legal studies. His monograph, New Asian Regionalism in International Economic Law, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. He was the Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law-Asia-Pacific Interest Group from 2017 to 2020 and was re-elected as an Executive Council Member of the Society of International Economic Law in 2021. 

Lau Kwan Ho
Deputy Director
Centre for Commercial Law in Asia

Lau Kwan Ho is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University, and presently also the Deputy Director of the Centre for Commercial Law in Asia. His teaching and research interests are in contract law and private law. His work, published in journals including the Cambridge Law Journal, the Law Quarterly Review and the Modern Law Review, is cited by courts in Hong Kong and Singapore, in extra-judicial speeches by English and Singapore judges, by regulatory bodies, and in academic treatises and articles regularly. He has given expert evidence in US court proceedings. Kwan Ho previously practised in the M&A department of Allen & Gledhill LLP and was a Justices’ Law Clerk with the Supreme Court of Singapore.
 

Presenters

Please visit APLR Presenters for more information.