JiangYu Wang

Modelling an Effective Corporate Governance System for China's Listed State-Owned Enterprises: Issues and Challenges in a Transitional Economy

The purpose of this paper is to construct a suitable model of corporate governance for Chinas listed companies that were formerly state-owned enterprises (ie listed SOEs). The paper first identifies the corporate governance problems in Chinas listed SOEs. This is followed by an examination of the suitability of the insider/outsider systems of corporate governance as a model for Chinas listed SOEs in light of Chinas current political, economic and social conditions. Drawing on Singapores model of corporate governance for its government-linked companies, the paper concludes with a proposal to adopt the Singapores “Temasek” model as a system of corporate governance for Chinas listed SOEs.

China, India, and Regional Economic Integration in Asia

Trade regionalism, through regional cooperation and integration and in the form of regional trade agreements (RTAs), is rising globally, although Asia has jumped on the bandwagon only recently. Asian economic integration is the second-best approach which Asian countries unfortunately have to follow. In the process of integration, China and India, given the size of their population and population, as well as their central strategic position in international and regional relations, will inevitably play fundamentally important, and sometimes even dominating, roles. This paper argues that regional economic integration in Asia should first of all realize sub-regional integration in East Asia and South Asia, while linking up the two sub-regions with bilateral FTAs, among which the most important one should be a China-India FTA. Eventually, all the FTAs will be consolidated into one pan-Asian FTA. China and India must take the lead in promoting Asian economic integration. They are advised to lead the region to practice open regionalism (with however Asian identity) and conduct deeper integration. Lastly, it is suggested that Asian countries should, at this stage, establish an institution to develop (non-binding) common principles and guidelines for the sub-regional and bilateral FTAs.

The Rise of Singapore As International Financial Centre: Political Will, Industrial Policy, and Rule of Law

Singapore is now one of the leading financial centres in the world, although the city-state started as a Third World country when independence was imposed on it in 1965. Although some natural conditions such as geographic location which possessed by other international financial centres are also vivid in Singapore’s case, some factors that contributed to Singapore’s financial rise are probably unique. This chapter argues that three key factors underpin Singapore’s success as a financial centre, which are the political will of the Singapore government, the government’s skillful use of industry policy, and the uncompromised practice of the rule of law in Singapore. These factors, taken together, made a state-led development model in the formation and maintenance of an international financial centre, Singapore style. From the perspective of law and development, Singapore’s path to the status of an international financial centre raises the question about the relationship between state and finance.

Overview of the Company Law Regime in China

This is the first and overview chapter of Company Law in China (Edward Elgar 2014) provides an overview of the corporate law regime in China, focusing on the newly revised PRC Company Law. It briefly examines the history of Chinas corporate law development, the structure of the company law, sources of law in the corporate law, corporate governance, corporate finance, and corporate social responsibility in China. It also discusses, from a law and development perspective, the purposes, principles and general trend of direction of Chinas corporate law system.This accessible book offer a comprehensive and critical introduction to the law on business organizations in the People’s Republic of China. The coverage focuses on the 2005-adopted PRC Company Law and the most recent legislative and regulatory developments in the company law landscape in China. The book covers a wide range of topics including the definitions of companies as compared with other forms of business organizations, incorporation, shareholders rights and legal remedies, corporate governance (including the fiduciary and other duties and liabilities of directors, supervisors and managers), corporate finance (including capital and shares offering), fundamental corporate changes (including mergers & acquisitions, and takeovers), and corporate liquidation and bankruptcy. In addition to presenting strong doctrinal analysis, the author also considers China’s unique social, political and economic contexts.

A Financial Centre for Two Empires: History’s marks on Hong Kong law

The endowments of an international financial centre International financial centres, like internationally active trading ports, are outward looking. Their domestic prosperity depends on the ability to attract foreign capital, goods and the deals connected to them. Although the volume of solely domestic transactions may be dwarfed by that of transactions conducted with wholly foreign legs, it is the domestic institutional environment and available skills that draw in these funds, goods and deals. Since its creation in 2007, the Global Financial Centres Index has placed four cities with very different economic and political positions – London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore – in the top four slots globally. During this period, New York was also the domestic financial centre for the world’s largest economy, while London served a like function for an economy with a ranking between sixth and eighth, and both Singapore and Hong Kong served domestic economies of negligible size whose GDP amounted to barely 10 per cent of the UK’s. Thus, as international financial centres, both London and New York are divided: they are both national financial centres for their large domestic economies (of different sizes) and centres for activity that spans the globe without significant link to either the UK or the US domestic economy. Regardless of whether transactions in these cities are purely domestic, purely foreign or somewhere in between, they are drawn to the financial centre by an economic and institutional condition that reflects the institutional characteristics of the nation itself. In New York, it will be the American economy, institutions and laws, and in London, the corresponding support elements of the UK. The same domestic institutions and laws facilitate both domestic and purely foreign transactions. These respective sets of institutions and laws have developed within the larger context of the nation, received legitimacy from the power of that nation’s state, and yet gained their support for international usage from and among persons based in other countries. While performing very similar functions, Hong Kong and Singapore present a dramatically different origin and composition. They inherited their legal systems from the British Empire, developed their international orientation as trade hubs of the same, and have achieved their status as leading financial centres significantly free of the (lacking) dimension of their domestic economies (which themselves are composed in good part of international financial services).