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The Project asks us to work on the presumption that the WTO is at the crossroads and may either survive after significant reforms or cease to exist. This concept paper does not examine the specific challenges that the WTO is currently facing or the various reform proposals. Instead, the paper revisits the underlying rationale for the need for the/a multilateral trading system and underscores the significance of the "Theory of Distortions and Welfare" to the proper functioning of the WTO or its successor. The paper submits that regardless of the fate of the WTO, anti-protectionism, collective rule-making and judicial interpretation and enforcement will remain at the core of international trade regulation. The fundamental function of the/a multilateral trading system will continue to be disciplining the choice of trade policies and policy instruments. As the backbone of the system, the "Theory of Distortions and Welfare" provides an effective mechanism for encouraging the use of economically efficient policy instruments without impairing governments' capacity to pursue chosen non-protectionist policy objectives.

China's unique economic system poses increasing challenges to the world trading system and attracts growing academic and policy debates. WTO members have frequently resorted to antidumping measures in dealing with price distortions caused by Chinese government influence in the economy. The Appellate Body's decision in the recent EU – Biodiesel dispute starts to remove the flexibility of condemning state intervention and price distortions under the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement through antidumping measures. This decision, read with the relevant WTO jurisprudence on the "ordinary course of trade" test and subsidies, suggests that price distortions resulting from state intervention should be addressed under other WTO rules. Therefore, it is necessary for WTO members to shift their focus to, and explore the capacity of, the other rules to overcome the challenges arising from China's state capitalism.

As promised, China brought a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute against the USA and the European Union (EU) respectively regarding their anti-dumping laws, which continue to authorize the application of the so-called non-market economy (NME) methodology. This case was initiated one day after the expiry of paragraph 15(a)(ii) of China's WTO Accession Protocol on 11 December 2016. Through a preliminary analysis of China's claims in the request for consultation with the EU, this article argues that the expiration of paragraph 15(a)(ii) has terminated the right of WTO members to use surrogate prices or costs for price comparison in anti-dumping actions against China solely based on their national market economy criteria. The use of surrogate prices or costs must now comply with the relevant WTO rules applicable to all WTO members. On this basis, the challenged EU measure is likely to be found WTO inconsistent. Towards this end, WTO members may continue to label China as a NME for political or other reasons under their national laws. However, whatever this label may entail, it no longer justifies the application of the NME methodology.

Zinc made a relative late appearance in the metallurgical history of China. As a volatile metal, its production required sophisticated distillation installations. The production of this metal played a special role in both the technological and economic history of Ming and Qing China: as a key constituent of the copper-alloy brass, zinc was employed for coinage and also exported via long-distance maritime trade. Our understanding of Chinese zinc distillation technology has traditionally been limited by a lack of studies of production remains. Recent excavation of zinc smelting sites in Fengdu and Shizhu, Chongqing, provides an excellent opportunity to address this issue. This thesis presents the analyses, technical interpretation and socio-economic contextualisation of the production remains from three sites in Fengdu and one site in Shizhu. Zinc ore, zinc metal, retorts and slag were analysed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), electron probe micro-analyser with wavelength dispersive spectrometry (EPMA-WDS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Following on a detailed technological reconstruction, some differences were found between the zinc distillation technologies in Fengdu and Shizhu, not only in technical efficiency but also in the organisation of production. These differences can be explained as adaptation of the zinc production for coinage to the different social, political and economic constraints affecting each group of sites. This thesis thus offers a first contribution towards a detailed comparative reconstruction of Chinese zinc distillation technology that considers both variations in time and space as well as common elements that characterise the Chinese technological style. The significance of Chinese zinc production is contextualised and discussed with reference to coinage in Ming and Qing China, but also by comparing it to other brass and zinc making technologies in China, India and Europe, and by assessing the influence of Chinese zinc in the international maritime trade.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel Report in Australia - Anti-Dumping Measures on A4 Copy Paper (Australia - A4 Copy Paper) marks a significant development of the multilateral rules on anti-dumping. Under certain circumstances, WTO agreements permit members to impose anti-dumping measures to counteract the injurious effect of dumping on domestic industries, typically through import duties. The Report is the first to examine in detail when an anti-dumping authority may determine that a "particular market situation" exists in the country of exportation under Article 2.2 of the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, potentially justifying the imposition of elevated remedial duties. The Report also develops the jurisprudence on how such remedies may be calculated, expounding the use of benchmark costs for the calculation of a constructed normal value (CNV) under Article 2.2.1.1. These doctrinal questions are central to the longstanding debate over how far the Anti-Dumping Agreement allows anti-dumping measures against state intervention and market distortions. On both fronts, the Australia - A4 Copy Paper panel created flexibilities for WTO members to respond to government-induced distortions. In doing so, the Report deviates considerably from the course set by the Appellate Body in the landmark EU - Biodiesel decision, which seemed to confine anti-dumping measures to responding to private action.1 At the same time, the panel left open several important issues relating to the adoption of CNVs and the use of benchmarks for their calculation, leaving wide latitude for investigating authorities to inflate dumping margins in practice.

This article contributes to the growing debate about industrial policies and subsidies, the adequacy of the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and future international negotiations of industrial subsidies, using China's practices in the high-tech sector as an illustration. Through a review of China's industrial policies in the high-tech sector including the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), we show China's entrenched commitments and ambitions towards indigenous innovation, technology independence, and global leadership in key and emerging technologies especially in strategic sectors. However, we challenge the mainstream view that the existing WTO rules are inadequate to deal with Chinese subsidies. Based on a detailed analysis of the general subsidy rules and the relevant China-specific rules, we argue that the current rules create no hurdle to tackling the major types of technology subsidies in China. Any perceived deficiencies are not China-specific and can only be addressed by WTO Members via negotiations. If such negotiations are desirable, then governments should seek to leverage the impacts of the pandemic and the global (ab)use of subsidies to generate the political will needed. Drawing on existing proposals for the reform of WTO subsidy rules, we develop some general principles and approaches to facilitate future negotiations emphasizing the need to focus on targeting trade-distortive subsidies rather than China, to balance between strengthening subsidyrules and preserving policy space, to follow economic guidance and data while accommodating political considerations, and most innovatively, to shift from the 'one-size-fits-all' approach to a country-specific approach through ascheduling method whereby an Industrial Subsidy Schedule is created to record policy objectives, subsidy commitments, and exceptions of each nation.