Speaking at Tsinghua University, Beijing: Current Issues in US-China Cross Border Litigation

Of all my experiences living, working, and studying in China, my most useful (and most enjoyable) was the time I spent studying at Tsinghua Law School in Beijing, regarded as one of the top universities in China. (Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping are fellow alums!) The LLM program covered all aspects of Chinese law, from corporate to criminal, civil procedure to contracts. I continue to draw upon my Tsinghua education in my practice today, particularly in how to interpret and research Chinese law.

This week, I am proud to return to Tsinghua to share about my practice with the current LLM students. As a student, I remember being uncertain how I could use my China law education. I hope my experience gives the students an idea of the possibilities that exist in today's market, from securities litigation to products liability, discovery disputes to anti-corruption compliance. There's so many opportunities for attorneys to assist businesses as they establish and grow their operations in China.   

  

Reading Between the Newspaper Lines on Xi Jinping US visit

As reported in several major US media outlets, PRC Vice President Xi Jinping, the “heir apparent” to current PRC President Hu Jintao, will be visiting the US this week. Once elected later this year, Xi will lead the PRC for 2 consecutive 5-year terms. With US-China relations in somewhat of a precarious position, the fact that China’s future head of state is traveling to the White House later this week is understandably a major event. Interestingly, as reported in the Global Post, another planned public appearance on Xi Jinping's US visit will be in Iowa.  

Xi Jinping hosts US Vice President Joe Biden in 2011 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.                                     

Source: flickr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

These reports probably raise a few questions in your mind, including:

How can Xi Jinping be an “heir apparent” when there will be an election? Do reporters mean "heir apparent" in the same way that it seems Romney will get the Republican nomination?

No, it’s very different. First, the election of the PRC President is not public – the only direct elections in China are at the most local level, the village councils and the local People’s Congress. All other officials are elected by a vote of representatives at the level below it, such that the President of the PRC is elected by the National People’s Congress, the national legislative body. This vote by the NPC, however, is more of a ratification than a true election. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decides who will be the President long before the election through a variety of strategic appointments. China Law & Policy provided an excellent analysis of the rise of Xi Jinping in Sept. 2009 if you are interested in the specifics of Xi’s rise and how the PRC President is elected.  (It’s also fascinating to see how early Xi’s rise could be tracked!)

Why is Xi Jinping visiting Iowa?

The Global Post reported Xi’s purpose in traveling to Iowa is to reunite with the same farmers he met with 27 years ago in his position as an agricultural official. In fact, some of the original Iowans no longer live in the state but still plan to return for the Vice President’s visit. Why this rendezvous? I agree with the Global Post article that the Chinese government is limiting Xi’s interactions in the US to curtail any possibilities of bad press. But I also think it’s a calculated move perhaps on Xi’s part to highlight his “down-home” roots when he was sent by the Communist Party to serve as a laborer in Shaanxi province during the Cultural revolution. The LA Times discusses how the CCP has tried to counter assertions that Xi’s rise to power is due to political positions held by his father, former Vice Premier of China and party secretary of Guangdong. Xi represents in many ways the new leaders of China – he is educated, benefited from privilege and has served as a politician most of his life. After the founding of the PRC in 1949, political leaders were primarily leaders from the military and engineering sectors, with the intention of departing from the corrupt rule of aristocrats from China’s past and moving toward an industrial future. Hu Jintao graduated from Tsinghua University with a degree in hydraulic engineering and worked as an engineer for several years before his political career; Xi also graduated from Tsinghua with a degree in engineering, but entered political life much more quickly thanks in part to his father’s network. The CCP and society are not so anti-bourgeois as in the past, but just as US presidential candidates are quick to pitch themselves as “one of us,” Xi and the CCP stand to benefit from public support garnered through an “everyman” pictorial.    

Why do the reports refer to him as “Xi” when it looks like his last name is “Jinping”?

In Chinese, the last name is written first. (Kudos to NYT and LA Times for getting this right, I’ve seen it written incorrectly even by the best publications.)  If you’re not sure whether an author has written a Chinese name in the proper order, you can usually tell which is the last name by looking for the shorter name.  Chinese last names are generally one syllable (e.g. "Xi") with first names of either one or two characters (e.g. "Jinping").