New Book by Angela Zhang: Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Will Challenge Global Regulation (OUP)

Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Will Challenge Global Regulation
Angela Zhang
Oxford University Press
Published on 11 March 2021
Overview: 

• Analyses Chinese antitrust law in the broader context of China's developing global economic presence
• Explores the ways in which bureaucratic missions, cultures, and structures of administrative agencies can play a crucial role in shaping the enforcement agenda, investigative approach, and final regulatory outcomes in China
• Describes how Chinese antitrust law can be transformed into a powerful economic weapon to counter aggressive U.S. sanctions
• Examines the new difficulties that Chinese firms will encounter as the U.S. and E.U. regulators tighten scrutiny over investment and trade from China

Description: China’s rise as an economic superpower has caused growing anxieties in the West. Europe is now applying stricter scrutiny over takeovers by Chinese state-owned giants, while the United States is imposing sanctions on leading Chinese technology firms such as Huawei, TikTok and WeChat. Given the escalating geopolitical tensions between China and the West, are there any hopeful prospects for economic globalization?  In her compelling new book Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism, Angela Zhang examines the most important and least understood tactic that China can deploy to counter western sanctions: antitrust law. Zhang reveals how China has transformed antitrust law into a powerful economic weapon, supplying theory and case studies to explain its strategic application over the course of the Sino-US tech war. Zhang also exposes the vast administrative discretion possessed by the Chinese government, showing how agencies can leverage the media to push forward aggressive enforcement. She further dives into the bureaucratic politics that spurred China’s antitrust regulation, providing an incisive analysis of how divergent missions, cultures and structures of agencies have shaped regulatory outcomes.  More than a legal analysis, Zhang offers a political and economic study of our contemporary moment. She demonstrates that Chinese exceptionalism—as manifested in the way China regulates and is regulated, is reshaping global regulation and that future cooperation relies on the West comprehending Chinese idiosyncrasies and China achieving greater transparency through integration with its western rivals.

Praises & Endorsements:

"Informed by legal analysis, game theory, and deep knowledge of both Chinese and Western legal practices, this valuable book provides a guide both to present-day controversies and to a more hopeful way forward."
  -Dani Rodrik

​"This is an excellent book on a hugely important issue... I recommend the book highly to anyone who has an interest in Chinese political economy."
  -Yasheng Huang

"The book is astute, engaging, and highly compelling."
  -Anu Bradford

"Required reading for anyone interested in China-West relations through the lens of law and real-world politics."
  - Noah Feldman
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"Angela Zhang's new book ... fills a big gap in understanding the mystery of China."
  -Eleanor Fox

The launch of the new book: HKU's Centre for Chinese Law is pleased to announce the launch of a new book Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation by Dr Angela Huyue Zhang, published by Oxford University Press this week. This book explores the unique ways in which China regulates and is regulated by foreign countries, revealing a ‘Chinese exceptionalism’ that is reshaping the global antitrust regime. In this book, Dr Zhang dives deep into the unique Chinese political and economic institutions, examining bureaucratic politics, the power imbalances between businesses and the government, the highly decentralized economic system, and state-led governance. This allows her to explain the dilemmas foreign multinationals have faced in complying with Chinese antitrust law, as well as the difficulties Chinese firms have encountered overseas as US. and EU antitrust regulators tighten their scrutiny over Chinese businesses. Dr Zhang’s book has proven to be incredibly timely. In the past few months, China has taken unprecedented action to enforce antitrust regulations against its leading firms, such as the fintech conglomerate Ant Group and its affiliate Alibaba. Dr Zhang’s responses to these events have been quoted by numerous media outlets including the WSJ, Financial Times and the Economist, and her commentaries have appeared in Project Syndicate, Nikkei Asia, Fortune and Bloomberg. Recently, Dr Zhang was featured on CNBC, as well as the Economist’s virtual event on balancing innovation and regulation. Dr Zhang is an associate professor of law and the director of the Centre for Chinese Law at the University of Hong Kong. An award-winning legal scholar, Zhang is a highly sought-after commentator on Chinese antitrust issues. Before joining the University of Hong Kong, Dr Zhang taught at King’s College London and practiced law for six years in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She received her LLB from Peking University, and her LLM, JD and JSD from the University of Chicago Law School. Dr Zhang will be giving virtual book talks on April 16 at UPenn, April 19 at Harvard, and April 30 at Oxford. These events are free to attend and open to the public. Dr Zhang’s book is now available on Amazon, Book Depository, and OUP (30% discount with promotion code ALAUTHC4). More details on the book are available on a dedicated website.