Staff profile

Bio

Professor Ming Du is Professor in Chinese Law and the Co-Director of Global Policy Institute. Prior to joining Durham in September 2019, he was Professor in Chinese & Comparative Law at University of Surrey from April 2016, and Reader in International Business Law at Lancaster University from September 2013. He was raised in China and completed his Chinese law training at Tsinghua University School of Law in Beijing. He holds an LLM from Harvard Law School, where he was a Victor and William Fung Fellow and a DPhil from University of Oxford (Brasenose College) where he was a Clarendon Scholar.

His current research focuses on the theoretical and structural issues of global economic governance (trade, investment and finance), China's approach to international law, and the development of the rule of law in contemporary China. He also retains a strong interest in corporate law and cross-border business transations in which he practiced as a qualified lawyer in both New York and Beijing for a number of years. 

He sits on editorial boards of Chinese Journal of International Law, the Journal of World Investment &Trade, Asia Pacific Law Review, and the Chinese Journal of Transnational Law. 

• China's Approach to International Law
• Comparative Law
• Foreign Investment Law
• International Dispute Settlement
• Public International Law and International Relations
• The Rule of Law in China
• World trade law (WTO)

Authored book

• Du, M. (2020). The Regulation of Product Standards in World Trade Law. Hart Publishing

Book review

• Du, M. (2021). A Chinese Theory of International Law. Asian Journal of International Law, 11(2), 392-393. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2882-8
• Du, M. (2016). China in the International Economic Order: New Paradigms and New Directions. Social and Legal Studies, 25(1), 123-126
• Du, M. (2015). The BRIC States and Outward Foreign Direct Investment

Chapter in book

• Du, M. (2024). China’s Green Industrial Policy and Its Implications for the EU– China Relationship. In F. Cappelletti, & G. Pogorel (Eds.), Sustainable? Competitive? The EU’s Industrial Autonomy – Facts and Fantasies (61-66). Brussels: European Liberal Forum. https://doi.org/10.53121/ELFS7
• Du, M. (2023). Article 4 and Annex 3 TBT: Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards and Code of Good Practice. In M. Wagner (Ed.), Commentaries on World Trade Law: Volume 4 Technical Barriers and SPS Measures (400-425). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/2666-4941_wtco_com_2005
• Du, M. (2023). Dashed Hopes? The Limits of International Economic Norms in Promoting the Rule of Law in China. In S. Hua (Ed.), Chinese Legality: Ideology, Law and Institutions (73-93). Routledge
• Du, M. (2023). Chinese State-Owned Enterprises and International Investment Law. In P. Delimatsis, G. Dimitropoulos, & A. Gourgourinis (Eds.), State Capitalism and International Investment Law (161-184). Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509963003.ch-008
• Bush, C., & Du, M. (2022). Towards a Win-Win EU-China Bilateral Investment Treaty: Challenges and Prospects. In Y. Kim (Ed.), China and the Belt and Road Initiative (145-177). (1). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86122-3_7
• Du, M., & Shen, W. (2021). The Future of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Exploring China’s Changing Attitude. In J. Chaisse, L. Choukroune, & S. Jusoh (Eds.), Handbook of international investment law and policy (2483-2506). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3615-7_86
• Kong, Q., & Du, M. (2020). Is the 'Belt and Road' Initiative the Chinese Vision of Global Governance?. In M. Giuseppe, & X. Wu (Eds.), A Legal Analysis of the Belt & Road Initiative: Towards a New Silk Road? (5-20). Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46000-6
• Du, M. (2015). The Place of Chinese State-owned Enterprises in WTO Law: An Analysis of United States- Definitive Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Products from China. In W. Shan, & Q. Liu (Eds.), China and International Commercial Dispute Resolution (306-332). Brill Academic Publishers
• Du, M. (2014). Look before You Leap: The Case for China's Tripartite Strategy towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In J. Hu, & M. Vanhullebusch (Eds.), Regional Cooperation and Free Trade Agreements in Asia (99-119). Brill Academic Publishers
• Du, M. (2013). Standard of Review in TBT Cases. In T. Epps, & M. J. Trebilcock (Eds.), Research Handbook on the WTO and Technical Barriers to Trade (164-203). Edward Elgar Publishing

Journal Article

• Du, M. (in press). International Investment Law and the Rule of Law: The Case of China. Washington international law journal, 33(2),
• Du, M. (in press). International Economic Law in the Era of Great Power Rivalry. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 57,
• Du, M. (2023). Explaining China’s approach to investor-state dispute settlement reform: a contextual perspective. European Law Journal: Review of European Law in Context, 28(4-6), 281-303. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12468
• Du, M. (2023). Unpacking the Black Box of China's State Capitalism. German law journal, 24(1), 125-150. https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2023.2
• Du, M. (2023). Huawei Strikes Back: Challenging National Security Decisions before Investment Arbitral Tribunals. Emory international law review, 37(1), 1-54
• Du, M. (2022). From ‘Non-market Economy’ to ‘Significant Market Distortions’: rethinking the EU anti-dumping regulation and China’s state interventionism. Yearbook of European Law, 41, 314-347. https://doi.org/10.1093/yel/yeac004
• Du, M. (2022). China's State-owned Enterprises and International Investment Law. Georgetown Journal of International Law, 53(4), 627-734
• Du, M. (2021). The Status of Chinese State-owned Enterprises in International Investment Arbitration: Much Ado about Nothing?. Chinese Journal of International Law, 20(4), 785-815. https://doi.org/10.1093/chinesejil/jmab040
• Du, M. (2021). Clearing the fog: Forest Stewardship Council labelling and the World Trade Organization. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, 30(1), 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12373
• Du, M. (2021). Voluntary Eco-Labels in International Trade Law: A Case Study of the EU Eco-Label. Journal of Environmental Law, 33(1), 167-193. https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqaa022
• Du, M., & Kong, Q. (2020). Explaining the Limits of the WTO in Shaping the Rule of Law in China. Journal of International Economic Law, 23(4), 885-905. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgaa027
• Du, M. (2018). WTO Regulation of Transnational Private Authority in Global Governance. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 67(4), 867-902. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589318000313
• Du, M. (2018). How to Define 'Public Morals' in WTO Law? A Critique of Brazil-Taxation and Charges Panel Report. Global Trade and Customs Journal, 13(2), 69-74. https://doi.org/10.54648/gtcj2018010
• Du, M. (2018). Re- Conceptualising the Role of Science in International Trade Disputes. Journal of World Trade, 52(5), 697-720
• Du, M. (2016). The Regulation of Chinese State-owned Enterprises in National Foreign Investment Laws: A Comparative Analysis. Global Journal of Comparative Law, 5(1), 118-145. https://doi.org/10.1163/2211906X-00501006
• Du, M. (2016). Permitting Moral Imperialism: The Public Morals Exception to Free Trade at the Bar of the World Trade Organization. Journal of World Trade, 50(4), 675-704
• Du, M., & Kong, Q. (2016). EC-Seal Products: A New Baseline for the Global Economic Governance and National Regulatory Autonomy Debate in the Multilateral Trading System. Manchester journal of international economic law, 13(1), 2-21
• Du, M. (2016). China's 'one Belt, One Road' Initiative: Context, Focus, Institutions, and Implications. Chinese Journal of Global Governance, 2(1), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.1163/23525207-12340014
• Du, M. (2016). 'Treatment No Less Favourable' and the Future of National Treatment Obligation in Article III:4 of the GATT 1994 after EC - Seals. World Trade Review, 15(1), 139-163
• Du, M. (2016). The Necessity Test in World Trade Law: What Now?. Chinese Journal of International Law, 15(4), 817-847
• Du, M., & Deng, F. (2016). International Standards as Global Public Goods in the World Trading System. Legal Issues of Economic Integration, 43(2), 113-144
• Du, M. (2015). Explaining China's Tripartite Strategy toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Journal of International Economic Law, 18(2), 407-432. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgv021
• Du, M. (2015). The Case against China's Joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Du, M. (2015). Taking Stock: What Do We Know, and Do Not Know, about the National Treatment Obligation in the GATT/WTO Legal System?. Chinese Journal of Global Governance, 1(1), 67-95. https://doi.org/10.1163/23525207-00000005
• Du, M. (2015). What is a Technical Regulation in the TBT Agreement?. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 6(3), 396-404
• Du, M. (2014). China's State Capitalism and World Trade Law. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 63(2), 409-448. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589314000062
• Du, M. (2014). When China's National Champions Go Global: Nothing to Fear but Fear itself?. Journal of World Trade, 48(6), 1127-1166
• Du, M. (2012). Has the WTO Appellate Body Pushed the Limits of Global Governance in China-Publications Case?. Chinese Journal of International Law, 11(1), 227-234. https://doi.org/10.1093/chinesejil/jmr056
• Du, M. (2011). The Rise of National Regulatory Autonomy in the GATT/WTO Regime. Journal of International Economic Law, 14(3), 639-675
• Du, M. (2010). Reducing Product Standards Heterogeneity through International Standards in the WTO: How Far across the River?. Journal of World Trade, 44(2), 295-318. https://doi.org/10.54648/trad2010010
• Du, M. (2010). Autonomy in Setting Appropriate Level of Protection under the WTO Law: Rhetoric or Reality?. Journal of International Economic Law, 13(4), 1077-1102
• Du, M. (2010). Standard of Review under the SPS Agreement after EC - Hormones II. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 59(2), 441-459
• Du, M. (2007). Does China Need Competition Law?. Journal of Business Law, 182-208
• Du, M. (2007). Domestic Regulatory Autonomy under the TBT Agreement: From Non-Discrimination to Harmonization. Chinese Journal of International Law, 6(2), 269-306. https://doi.org/10.1093/chinesejil/jmm022
• Du, M., & Li, K. (2005). Antitrust Control of Merger & Acquisition in Transitional Economies: A Case Study of China. Journal of Business Law, 597-616