Sat 09 November 2019
By Jayne He
The Co-director of UNSW Law’s China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre Associate Professor Heng Wang was invited to serve as a panellist at the Herbert Smith Freehills 2019 Global Partner Conference in Sydney on 14 September. The conference is held every two years to bring together around 460 partners from across the globe to discuss the most pressing issues acing their business and their clients' businesses.
Associate Professor Wang sat on the panel discussing “Developments in the Belt and Road and China”, focusing on whether the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is sustainable and what implications it can bring to business and possible resolutions.
At the panel, Associate Professor Wang talked about how sustainable the BRI was and the main issues that threaten BRI’s sustainability. He argued that China has taken a maximised flexibility approach regarding rules and institutions under the Belt and Road Initiative. According to Associate Professor Wang it has the benefit of being a trial-and-error pathway but also faces various challenges. His arguments align with his paper “China’s Approach to the Belt and Road Initiative: Scope, Character and Sustainability” which has been published at the Journal of International Economic Law.
Other panellists of the BRI panel were Partners of Herbert Smith Freehills from different offices in the Asia-Pacific region, including Brenda Horrigan from the Sydney Office, Monica Sun from the Beijing Office, Ellen Zhang from the Beijing/Shanghai Offices and Matt Goerke from the Jakarta Office. The panel was moderated by Calvin Ho, who is a Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills' Beijing Office.