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The ‘two faces’ of cross-border, transactional legal practice during Covid-19: how and from where have lawyers mobilised China's capital flows under lockdown?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2023
Abstract
The narrative that banks, government departments and state-owned enterprises are the foremost protagonists in shaping China's outbound capital flows has been a commonplace view. This article seeks to expand the focus to include other under-scrutinised players: lawyers. With reference to exporting industries (such as shipping and natural gas), this article explains how lawyers – in tandem with China's governmental and judicial organs – have shifted from enabling outflows to postponing them, as a result of China's Covid-19 force majeure regime. Even with capital on pause, Covid-19 has also kept lawyers busy, prompting them to think about how to maximise their firm's proximity to the clients they have and to new clients that they want to win. Accordingly, this article also provides an overview of the techniques used by predominantly Anglo-American law firms to gain access to new legal markets during Covid-19, with a view to winning more work from Chinese capital-exporters and their foreign counterparties.
- Type
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- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the National University of Singapore
Footnotes
*
LLM (Yenching Scholar), Peking University; Co-Executive Director, Young China Watchers; Research Cluster Lead for Legal Services, China, Law and Development Project, University of Oxford.
**
State Counsel, Attorney General's Department; Research Associate, China, Law and Development Project, University of Oxford.
***
Associate Professor, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law; Research Associate, China, Law and Development Project, University of Oxford.
****
Researcher, Evidence Central Asia; Research Associate, China, Law and Development Project, University of Oxford.
References
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3 ibid. Square backets added for clarity.
4 ibid.
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7 ibid.
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9 Remarks of Jern-Fei Ng, barrister, to the Uzbek Arbitration Week Belt and Road Initiative panel (7 Sep 2021).
10 ibid. Square brackets added by the authors.
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12 The lending back may not always be a Chinese state-owned bank.
13 Within the context of China's outbound capital flows, typical examples of such guarantors include the Export-Import Bank of China, which offers ‘preferential buyer credit guarantees’ to induce bank lending that finances a Chinese export.
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15 ibid.
16 ibid.
17 A full discussion of the documents involved in a BRI infrastructure financing falls outside the scope of this paper.
18 In other words, if ‘A’ is dependent on ‘B’ and ‘B’ is dependent on ‘A’, how are ‘A’ and ‘B’ ever to occur?
19 Template contract wordings that can be re-used without significant modifications.
20 The CCPIT is a ‘national foreign trade and investment promotion agency’, performing a function that is broadly analogous to a chamber of commerce. See China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘About CCPIT’ (CCPIT, 24 Mar 2016) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117521acbb80153a75e0133021e/5> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
21 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Provides COVID-19 Force Majeure Certificates and Other Services’ (CCPIT, 13 Mar 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b0170d2952a7f0799/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
22 Some People's Government notices, for example, only covered the closure of production facilities. Others also cover school closures.
23 Sarah Yu, ‘CCPIT issues the first force majeure cert for coronavirus-hit businesses’ (Xinde Marine News, 4 Feb 2020) <https://www.xindemarinenews.com/m/view.php?aid=17793> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Square brackets included for ease of reading.
24 French car producer.
25 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Offered the First Force Majeure Certificate of Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)’ (CCPIT, 6 Feb 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b017019772b5706b0/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Comprising not only ‘direct losses’ of RMB 2.4 million for breach of contract, but also recoverable losses of approximately RMB 30 million arising from two weeks of production line shutdown.
26 ibid.
27 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (CCPIT, 30 Apr 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b0171c8e0ef5408a2/2> accessed 23 October 2022.
28 Norbert Meyring, Thomas Bailey and Alice Jin, ‘Rebooting manufacturing in mainland China’ (KPMG, Feb 2020) <https://home.kpmg/cn/en/home/insights/2020/02/rebooting-manufacturing-in-mainland-china.html> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
29 ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (n 27).
30 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘National Trade Promotion System Has Issued Over 4000 Force Majeure Certificates’ (CCPIT, 13 Mar 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b0170d1e7916b0795/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
31 Bate Felix & Jessica Jahanathan, ‘UPDATE 4-France's Total rejects force majeure notice from Chinese LNG buyer’ (Reuters, 6 Feb 2020) <https://www.reuters.com/article/china-health-total-idCNL8N2A66BX> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
32 James Carter et al, ‘Force Majeure Certificates in a global context: What are they and what is their effect?’ (DLA Piper, 30 Apr 2020) <https://www.dlapiper.com/en/uk/insights/publications/2020/04/force-majeure-certificates-in-a-global-context/> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Square brackets added for explanation.
33 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Commercial Certification Center Provides Force Majeure Certificates of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Service’ (CCPIT, 21 Feb 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b0170671f67f30716/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Italics added for emphasis.
34 ibid. Square brackets added for clarity and italics added for emphasis.
35 Civil Code of the People's Republic of China 2020, art 180 <http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/c23934/202012/f627aa3a4651475db936899d69419d1e/files/47c16489e186437eab3244495cb47d66.pdf> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
36 ibid.
37 Tong Zhong Min Er Zhong Zi No 00030 [2015]; Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No 220 [2016].
38 Mimi Zou, ‘Guiding Opinion on the Proper Handling of Civil Cases Involving the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in Accordance with the Law (1)’ (China Law Translate, 20 Apr 2020) <https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/guiding-opinion-on-the-proper-handling-of-civil-cases-involving-the-novel-coronavirus-outbreak-in-accordance-with-the-law-1/> accessed 23 Oct 2022. However, it should be noted that the Opinions (I) were issued approximately one month before the PRC Civil Code entered into force. Therefore, the Opinions (I) did not refer to the PRC Civil Code but instead referred to the PRC General Principles of the Civil Law and the PRC Contract Law. This, however, is of little practical significance for the purposes of this article: the rules concerning force majeure remained largely unchanged following the promulgation of the PRC Civil Code. (Interestingly, although a full discussion falls outside the scope of this article, the PRC Civil Code also provided an alternative ‘route’ that could also have given protection to capital-exporting businesses: the ‘change of circumstances’ doctrine. Under this doctrine, unavoidability and insurmountability did not need to be demonstrated: Civil Code of the People's Republic of China 2020 (n 35) art 533.)
39 A spokesperson for the Commission of Legislative Affairs of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.
40 ‘CCPIT Commercial Certification Center Provides Force Majeure Certificates of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Service’ (n 33).
41 Ulrike Glueck, Michael Munzinger & Angela Chan, ‘Does the Coronavirus Outbreak constitute Force Majeure?’ (CMS China Insight, 2020) <https://www.cms-china.info/insight/2020_China/02_Corporate/Newsletter_Corporate.html> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
42 ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (n 27).
43 Remarks given by Shenying Peng, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of PowerChina International Group Limited, to the Uzbek Arbitration Week Belt and Road Initiative panel (7 Sep 2021).
44 Civil Code of the People's Republic of China 2020 (n 35), art 563(1).
45 Zhang, Mo, Chinese Contract Law - Theory & Practice (2nd edn, Brill 2020) 308CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Square brackets included to show an omission, made for ease of reading.
46 ibid, art 590.
47 ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (n 27).
48 ‘Force Majeure Certificates in a global context: What are they and what is their effect?’ (n 32). Square brackets added for clarity.
49 ibid.
50 ibid, emphasis added. Contract laws for England and Hong Kong also include the principle of ‘frustration’, which can produce similar outcomes to the exercise of force majeure insofar as ‘parties are released from their future unperformed obligations’. See Wilson Antoon & Paul Starr, ‘Novel Coronavirus Covid-19: Force Majeure and Frustration under PRC, English and Hong Kong Laws – KWM’ (King & Wood Mallesons, 28 Sep 2022) <https://www.kwm.com/uk/en/insights/latest-thinking/noval-coronavirus-covid19-force-majeure-and-frustration.html#_ftn14> accessed 23 Oct 2022; Channel Island Ferries Ltd v Sealink [1988] 1 Lloyd's Rep 323; Goldlion Properties Ltd v Regent National Enterprises Ltd (2009) 12 HKCFAR 512
51 Guilio Maroncelli & Roberta Padula, ‘COVID-19 emergency - Force majeure certificates issued by the Chambers of Commerce in Italy’ (DLA Piper, 8 Apr 2020) <https://www.dlapiper.com/en/uk/insights/publications/2020/04/covid-19-emergency---force-majeure-certificates-issued-by-the-chambers-of-commerce-in-italy/> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
52 Marine Lallemand, ‘The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in France – force majeure and contractual good faith’ (DLA Piper, 10 Apr 2020) <https://www.dlapiper.com/en/uk/insights/publications/2020/04/the-covid19-force-majeure-and-good-faith/> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
53 ibid.
54 ‘CCPIT Commercial Certification Center Provides Force Majeure Certificates of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Service’ (n 33).
55 Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1893] 1 QB 256.
56 ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (n 27). Square brackets added to retain a consistent tense.
57 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Issues the Force Majeure Certificates of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) for Enterprises’ (CCPIT, 26 Feb 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b017080e1f9b5072f/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
58 ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (n 27).
59 ‘CCPIT Issues the Force Majeure Certificates of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) for Enterprises’ (n 57). Italics added for emphasis.
60 Having said this, the CCPIT shrewdly advised: ‘In addition, in view of the situation that the COVID-19 is spreading worldwide, CCPIT Commercial Legal Services suggests that enterprises should not assign an overly precise performance date when negotiating with clients about delaying contract performance and may add relevant conditions to it.’ See China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Guides Enterprises to Leverage Force Majeure Certificates, which Help to Maintain Nearly 60% Contracts’ (10 Apr 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b017163990e5a082a/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
61 ‘CCPIT Carried out International Communications on Force Majeure Certificates’ (n 27). Square brackets added for ease of reading.
62 ‘CCPIT Guides Enterprises to Leverage Force Majeure Certificates, which Help to Maintain Nearly 60% Contracts’ (n 60).
63 China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘Successful case: Force Majeure Certificate of COVID-19 Proves Helpful for ERUI International Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd.’ (CCPIT, 9 March 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b0170bd2ec4bd0770/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
64 ‘CCPIT Guides Enterprises to Leverage Force Majeure Certificates, which Help to Maintain Nearly 60% Contracts’ (n 60).
65 Remarks of Jern-Fei Ng, barrister, to the Uzbek Arbitration Week Belt and Road Initiative panel (7 Sep 2021).
66 This, however, is not to say that all legal services on force majeure received by Chinese capital-exporters were provided via the CCPIT. Undoubtedly, many capital-exporters will have instructed their own counsel without any involvement from the CCPIT. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, ‘CCPIT Unites with Law Firms and Legal Institutions in More than 50 Countries to Provide Legal Services for the Virus-Hit Enterprises’ (CCPIT, 23 Mar 2020) <https://en.ccpit.org/infoById/40288117668b3d9b01710524ffbd07c0/2> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Emphasis added. The law firms were unnamed.
67 ibid.
68 ibid. Italics added for emphasis.
69 ibid.
70 Twenty-foot equivalent units, a unit of measurement for a ship's cargo-carrying capacity.
71 Jasmina Ovcina Mandra, ‘Seaspan terminates deal for four LNG-powered newbuilds’ (Offshore Energy, 16 Sep 2022) <https://www.offshore-energy.biz/seaspan-terminates-deal-for-four-lng-powered-newbuilds/> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
72 Insurance Marine News, ‘Seaspan rejects force majeure from Chinese yard’ (Insurance Marine News, 15 Aug 2022) <https://insurancemarinenews.com/insurance-marine-news/seaspan-rejects-force-majeure-from-chinese-yard/> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
73 Atlas, ‘Seaspan Announces Update Regarding Order For Four 7,700 TEU Dual-Fuel LNG Containership Newbuilds’ (Atlas, 15 Sep 2022) <https://ir.atlascorporation.com/2022-09-15-Seaspan-Announces-Update-Regarding-Order-For-Four-7,700-TEU-Dual-Fuel-LNG-Containership-Newbuilds> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Square brackets added for precision.
74 LNG Prime, ‘Seaspan says contracts for LNG-powered containership quartet “null and void”’ (LNG Prime, 16 Sep 2022) <https://lngprime.com/asia/seaspan-says-contracts-for-lng-powered-containership-quartet-null-and-void/61635/> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
75 Bate Felix & Jessica Jahanathan, ‘France's Total rejects force majeure notice from Chinese LNG buyer’ (Reuters, 6 Feb 2020) <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-total/frances-total-rejects-force-majeure-notice-from-chinese-lng-buyer-idUSKBN2001XQ> accessed 23 Oct 2022. Square brackets added for brevity and clarity.
76 ibid.
77 Sue Reisinger, ‘General Counsel Pondering How to Handle China's Force Majeure Claims’ (Law.com, 12 Feb 2020) <https://www.law.com/international-edition/2020/02/12/general-counsel-pondering-how-to-handle-chinas-force-majeure-claims-378-134237/> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
78 Sue Reisinger, ‘China Is Making Force Majeure Claims, Leaving General Counsel with Many Questions’ (Law.com, 12 Feb 2020) <https://www.law.com/international-edition/2020/02/12/general-counsel-pondering-how-to-handle-chinas-force-majeure-claims-378-134237/?kw=China%20Is%20Making%20Force%20Majeure%20Claims> accessed 23 Oct 2022.
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82 ‘McDermott quits Asia as Winston & Strawn takes over its China alliance’ (The Global Legal Post, 24 Jun 2020) <https://www.globallegalpost.com/big-stories/mcdermott-quits-asia-as-winston--strawn-takes-over-its-china-alliance-38758846/> accessed 13 Nov 2021.
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88 Yadong Luo, ‘Transactional Characteristics, Institutional Environment and Joint Venture Contracts’ (2005) 36 Journal of International Business Studies 209, 210.
89 ibid.
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92 It is important to note that offering common law services to the local Chinese market served (and still serves) a small niche.
93 Sida Liu, ‘The Rise of Big Law in China: Chinese Law Firms in the Age of Globalization’ (The Practice, Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School) <https://thepractice.law.harvard.edu/article/rise-big-law-china/> accessed 13 Nov 2021 (webpage was being updated and thus unavailable when last accessed on 25 Jan 2023).
94 Dentons, ‘Legal Notices’ <https://www.dentons.com/en/legal-notices> accessed 29 Nov 2021.
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97 ibid.
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106 See Nolan, Peter, Is China Buying the World? (1st edn, Polity Press 2013)Google Scholar.
107 The Economist, ‘China is the world's factory, more than ever’ (23 Jun 2020) <https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/06/23/china-is-the-worlds-factory-more-than-ever>, accessed 23 Oct 2022.
108 Feng Qingyin, ‘How has China become the world's manufacturing superpower?’ (Global Times, 5 Aug 2021) <https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230721.shtml> accessed 23 Oct 2022.