On April 1, 2022, the thirty-fourth keynote speech of the "Fudan Transnational Corporations and Law Forum" and the third episode of this Forum's special series of "TNCs and International Commercial Dispute Resolution" was held successfully online. The speech entitled "Reviewing the Practice of State Immunity Involving China by United States Courts" was delivered by Associate Professor LI Qingming of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, commented by Professor DU Tao of East China University of Political Science and Law, and hosted by Professor MA Zhongfa of Fudan University Law School.

Professor LI firstly introduced five major categories of state immunity cases involving China in U.S. courts, namely, the cases involving the pre-1949 bonds issued by the predecessor governments, the cases against the central government and/or its composing ministries and commissions, the cases against local governments, the cases against state-owned enterprises and institutions, the cases against individual cadres of the government or the Chinese Communist Party, and the enforcement immunity cases. The majority of them are cases against the central government and/or its ministries and commissions, local governments, and state-owned enterprises and institutions. While a series of exceptions of foreign state immunity applies to the former two categories, such as non-commercial torts, commercial activity, and takings of property in violation of international law, the U.S. courts usually grant immunity to the former two groups of Chinese actors, but they seldom support the Chinese state-owned enterprises' claim for foreign state immunity.

Professor LI then focused on the measures undertaken by the Chinese government and enterprises in dealing with such litigations in U.S. courts. Political measures include diplomatic negotiation, diplomatic notes, and requesting the U.S. Department of State to submit an opinion on foreign state immunity to the courts. Legal measures encompass resistance to service, appearing in court to defend on procedural issues, application for the annulment of judgments, and appearing in court to defend on substantive issues. Additionally, other measures such as submitting amicus curia opinions by civil society, utilizing public opinion, and settlement can also be used when deemed appropriate. Professor LI analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of these measures to evaluate and select the most effective ones in light of specific conditions.

Lastly, Professor LI elaborated on the main problems arising from these state immunity cases involving China, including how to properly view and deal with such litigation, the subjects of state immunity, the good faith compliance of treaties, how to promote the domestic rule of law and the foreign-related rule of law in an integrated manner, how to conduct the discovery of evidence, the whole-process compliance, and the training of legal talents specialized in foreign-related law. He emphasized that to effectively protect the rights and interests of our country, we should actively take full advantage of both diplomatic and legal measures while confronted with such litigation.

Professor DU spoke highly of Professor Li's research project and further emphasized that we should pay close attention to details in the case study. At the Q&A session, Professor LI provided detailed answers to the questions on international comity, China's absolute sovereign immunity position, and the challenges arising from sovereign immunity before Chinese courts.

On April 15, 2022, the Forum will host the thirty-fifth keynote speech entitled "The Functions of the Anti-suit Injunction and China's Plan" by ZHANG Wenliang, Associate Professor of Renmin University of China.