On the afternoon of 11 March 2025, the Academic Salon of International Law School of China University of Political Science and Law was successfully held in Room 0111 of Comprehensive Building of Haidian Campus of China University of Political Science and Law. With the theme of ‘Research on WTO and International Law under Current Challenges’, the Salon was delivered by James Bacchus, a world-renowned authority on international trade law, former first judge and re-elected President of the WTO Appellate Body, and Prof Yang Guohua of Tsinghua University, President of the WTO Research Association of the Law Society of China, as well as Prof Yang Guohua, Assistant President of the School of International Law of China University of Political Science and Law. Associate Professor Ding Ru, Assistant Dean of the School of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law, moderated the event. The event was also attended by Professor Bian Yongmin and Associate Professor Gong Hongliu from the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), as well as many teachers and students from the School of International Law.

Firstly, Associate Professor Ding Ru introduced the impressive achievements of Professor Bacchus in the field of international trade law and expressed a warm welcome to Professor Bacchus.

In his sharing, Prof Bacchus emphasised the importance of global trade cooperation, referring to the interdependence of different economies such as China, the US and Europe in trade. He pointed out that although trade can be mutually beneficial to all economies, protectionism due to the concept of ‘zero-sum game’ will hinder the development of global trade. He emphasised that the WTO has been of great significance to the global economic prosperity and many members have benefited from it, especially China and the US as economic powers.

However, it cannot be ignored that the WTO is facing unprecedented challenges, including the paralysis of the dispute settlement mechanism. Professor Bacchus reviewed in detail the development of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. In the early days, under the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the dispute settlement mechanism had obvious defects, and the losing party was able to block the adoption of the panel's report more easily, which made the efficiency and fairness of dispute settlement greatly reduced. In order to remedy this shortcoming, the Uruguay Round negotiations undertook a comprehensive and in-depth reform of the dispute settlement mechanism, establishing a binding dispute settlement mechanism and a special appellate body. The establishment of the Appellate Body was aimed at ensuring the consistency and fairness of judgements, providing a more reliable guarantee for the settlement of international trade disputes. However, in recent years, the United States has continuously obstructed the appointment of judges to the Appellate Body, resulting in the Appellate Body being unable to operate normally. This has caused the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to face an unprecedented crisis, and many international trade disputes cannot be resolved in a timely and effective manner, and the legitimate rights and interests of members cannot be fully safeguarded as a result.

In the enthusiastic seminar, the participants launched active and in-depth exchanges around a number of hot topics. They asked Professor Bacchus questions on WTO research topics, crisis response strategies, the relationship between trade and sustainable development, as well as the trade friction between China and the United States. Professor Bacchus listened carefully to each question and gave detailed and precise answers with his profound professional knowledge and rich practical experience. Professor Bacchus mentioned that although the Multi-Party Interim Appellate Arrangement (MPIA) has been formed, the refusal of the US to participate in it has limited its role; in terms of trade and sustainable development, he emphasised the need to balance the social, economic and environmental objectives; when it comes to the trade friction between China and the US, he believes that many of the measures taken by the US in the trade war between China and the US do not comply with international law, and that China's countermeasures have the same effect as that of international law. He believes that many of the measures taken by the US in the US-China trade war are not in line with international law, and that it is necessary for China to counteract them.

At the end of the salon, Professor Yang Guohua made a summary, and he fully affirmed the value of the salon. He believed that Professor Bacchus' sharing helped participants grasp the cutting-edge dynamics of international trade rules, broaden their academic horizons, deeply understand the WTO rules, and clarify the direction of future study and research.

The salon was successfully concluded with warm applause.