Lawyer bullish on future of China's business climate

A senior lawyer said he is "very optimistic" about the future of China's business environment, as the country is determined to develop an advanced intellectual property protection legal regime.

"We are very optimistic about the future of China's business environment," said Eric Liu, managing partner of Zhao Sheng Law Firm. The office is the British law firm Linklaters' joint operating partner in China.

Despite the uncertainty caused by the trade conflict, which has put investment and consumption on hold, Liu said he believes "China will continue opening its economy up to international trade and cross-border inbound and outbound direct investment."

"China has become increasingly innovative, and is determined to develop an advanced legal regime for IP protection, and new protection mechanisms have already taken shape in the country," he said in a written reply.

He believes China will step up its efforts in protecting the intellectual property rights of foreign investors, following the promulgation of the Foreign Investment Law.

Asked about his take on the China-US trade dispute, Liu said: "Although we have seen many uncertainties concerning the trade dynamics between China and the US, we still believe in the potential and vitality of trade and investment markets."

For instance, Chinese companies are driven to catch up on merge and acquisition deals for safety reasons or commercial reasons, and they are still very active in terms of outbound deals, he said.

The ongoing G20 summit was regarded as a chance to resume the conversation between Chinese and US leadership, which was a positive sign that China and the US intend to promote new economic and trade negotiations, he said.

At the G20 forum, efforts to reform the WTO dispute settlement system should be prioritized to avert the acute Appellate Body crisis that looms in late 2019, Liu said. "China, as a major member of the WTO, will definitely benefit from the organizational reform," he added.