With the growing importance of the internet, digital trade, or electronic commerce, has become a key issue in international trade regulation. As the home to some of the largest internet companies in the world, the United States took the lead in bringing the issue into the WTO and has been the...

This paper conducts a detailed critical analysis of the dispute settlement mechanisms in ASEAN's external economic agreements with China, Japan and Korea by reviewing the main procedural rules of these mechanisms. The paper also discusses the difference among these agreements, and compares them...

On November 11, 2001, China finally acceded to the WTO in Doha, Qatar, at the 4th Ministerial Conference, which also launched the first negotiating Round of the new trade body since its establishment. As China is the largest country that has ever acceded to the WTO, many commentators predicted...

Data regulation has become a key issue in today’s world. For various reasons, however, it has been challenging to understand data regulations in China, home to the largest e-commerce market in the world. This paper traces the evolution of data and Internet regulation in China, from the early...

Over the past three years, the United States have been persistently blocking the appointment of members to the WTO Appellate Body, citing various concerns with its alleged “failure to follow the agreed rules”. The US blockage has resulted in an unprecedented crisis of the WTO dispute...

On 13 December 2017, 71 Members of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) led by the US, EU and Japan issued a “Joint Statement on Electronic Commerce” at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the Joint Statement, the Members announced that they would...

While the GATS, in its current form, is not well suited to the regulation of Internet, it has the potential to keep up with the regulatory task. However, to make this happen, we will need new approaches in dealing with Internet services, especially on key issues such as classifications,...

Being a small country with one of the highest trade-to-GDP ratios in the world, Singapore faced seemingly insurmountable challenges at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As countries around the world scrambled to fight the pandemic, they imposed restrictions on exports and imports, suspended...

Starting with the signing of the CEPA with Hong Kong, China, on 30 June 2003, China has jumped on the RTA bandwagon. As of 1 September 2006, China has signed or is negotiating RTAs with trade partners such as Hong Kong, China; Macau, China; Chile; Pakistan; Australia; New Zealand; ASEAN; Iceland;...