The Covid-19 health crisis has implicated discussions about the Sino-US trade deal, while at the same time there is political pressure to affix responsibility on China. This talk will outline some arguments made (1) to link the global health crisis to the Sino-US deal, (2) to bring claims before various courts and tribunals, and (3) to impose countermeasures and similar retaliatory action against Chinese imports, or to initiate international investigations into China’s role in particular in the management of the crisis. The usual view for laypersons especially may be that if it is a pandemic, there is no point apportioning blame. However, due to the politics surrounding the issue, and the grave public interest and attention caused by the arguments raised against China, this public webinar will suggest that if the charges are left largely unanswered in a rigorous, legally informed manner, the damage to China’s reputation will already be done.

Speaker: Prof. Chin Leng LIM, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, CUHK
Discussant: Prof. Spyros Maniatis, Director, British Institute of International & Comparative Law

The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1.5 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points.