On the afternoon of May 8, Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, was invited to give a lecture themed “Competitive Neutrality from the Chinese Perspective” at the Research Center for Competition Law and Policy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The activity was chaired by Wang Xianlin, distinguished professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Executive Vice Director of KoGuan School of Law. Fujio Kawashima, visiting scholar at the Research Center for Competition Law and Policy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Ying Pinguang, associate research fellow at the School of WTO Research & Education of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, as well as Professor Li Jian, instructors Li Junming and Shang Lina and some post-doctors, doctoral and master students from KoGuan School of Law attended the lecture.

The lecture included seven parts. In the first part, Professor Wen Xueguo explained the concept of competitive neutrality by introducing the competiton policy reform that the Australian government launched in 1995, and briefed the audience on the supervision mechanism in Australia’s competitive neutrality policy. In the second part, he described different forms to advance the competitive neutrality policy from perspectives like domestic legislation, the practice of international organizations, and the competitive neutrality clauses in free trade agreements, by taking the OECD, TPP, and the competitive neutrality policy of the US as examples.

The third part, which was about the policy objectives of competitive neutrality, aroused lively discussions among attendees. Proceeding from issues like cost transparency, debts, direct government subsidies, and taxes in State-owned enterprises, Professor Wen Xueguo vividly explained the policy objectives of competitive neutrality, such as direct cost identification, commercial return rate, and tax control neutrality. Next, he analyzed the trends of competitive neutrality, that is; the policy has been recognized and applied in a wider scope both at home and abroad, and is bound to have significant influence on international and domestic markets. The fifth part was about analysis of the legal basis and institutional room for China to adopt the competitive neutrality policy. After that, he focused on the core subjects of the competitive neutrality policy, i.e. State-owned enterprises, and analyzed the political, economic, and social attributes of State-owned enterprises. In the last part, Professor Wen Xueguo proposed the attitude and measures China shall take to meet the competitive neutrality principle. He highlighted the key issues, such as implementation of the fundamental position of the competition policy as well as the coordination between competition policies and industrial policies, and mentioned other factors affecting competitive neutrality, like local protection and regional blockade.

The lecture evoked a strong audience response. To summarize the lecture, Professor Wang Xianlin said, Professor Wen Xueguo illustrated the issue of competitive neutrality respectively from the domestic and international, political and economic, macro and micro, and theoretical and practical perspectives. He not only outlined the framework of the principle, but also offered in-depth analysis of the key issues related to the Chinese perspective that enlightened the audience. The lecture came to a successful conclusion amid the well-earned applause of students.

(Article and photo by Yue Yuanzhou)