On March 13, 2019, Dean Shi Jingxia and Vice-Dean Gong Hongliu of UIBE Law School met with Professor Fujio Kawashima, Faculty of Law of Kobe University, Japan. This is the second time that Professor Fujio Kawashima visited UIBE Law School. The two sides conducted friendly discussions on academic issues such as the WTO Appellate Body crisis and the cooperation between UIBE Law School and Kobe University Law School. Assistant Professor Chen Danzhou and Assistant Professor Li Fenghua attended the meeting.

(Meeting Room)

Professor Kawashima Fujio presented gifts to UIBE Law School and Dean Shi Jingxia on behalf of the School of Law of the Kobe University. The two sides discussed the current hot issues of international economic law such as the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, especially the Appellate Body crisis. Professor Kawashima Fujio put forward some views and questions on the crisis of the WTO Appellate Body, the necessary reforms and its feasibility. Dean Shi Jingxia, referring to her two recent papers, proposed that we should understand the deep roots of the crisis and the current development of the situation, and suggested that we should consider the arbitration of the Appellate Body through the arbitration method stipulated in Article 25 of the DSU. The two sides continued to conduct professional exchanges on how to assess the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration as a means of trade dispute settlement, and how to balance the traditional characteristics of arbitration and the multilateral nature of WTO dispute settlement. Vice-Dean Gong Hongliu combined the research results of the Trade Lab of the UIBE Law School International Legal Clinic Project to discuss how to solve trade disputes based on arbitration.

(Group photo)

After the academic discussion, the guests and the host conducted constructive discussions on the cooperation of the two law schools, including student and teacher exchanges, and cooperation in organizing academic conferences. The two sides expressed that in view of the common academic interests and strengths, more cooperation shall be carried out on projects such as student development and teacher exchange.