Chinese Competition Law in the World

Abstract

Chinese competition law has been intensely interwoven with the outside world since its inception. It was created in 2008 in the glare of globalizing markets and spurred by the opportunities Chinese decision makers believed those markets provided. They based the statute on foreign models, and in implementing it they have selectively used foreign advice and experience. Economic and political decision makers in much of the world have, in turn, paid close attention to Chinese competition law developments, and many have tried to influence decisions there. This Essay seeks to bring into sharper focus the role and place of Chinese competition law in the world. It explores elements of the relationship between competition law in China and the economic, legal and political worlds outside China. It is, in short, about “China in the world”. I have three central objectives: To identify key elements of that relationship, to uncover factors that impede and distort perceptions of Chinese competition law and of its relationship to the global context, and to at least glimpse some of the potential implications of both.