On May 7th, at the juncture of UIC's Second Graduating Cereomy, UIC had the honor of inviting Eminent Judge of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body Prof. Zhang Yuejiao to give a speech on the 28th UIC High Table Dinner. The topic of her speech was "The WTO Road-China' s Expectations of International Personnel". Sharing the high table were UIC President Prof. NG Ching-Fai, UIC Executive Vice-President Prof. Kwok Siu-tong, Deputy Party Secretary of Beijing Normal University Tangwei, President of Beijing Institute of Technology Liu Shuyan, Deputy Chief of Zhuhai Education Bureau Wufan, Dean of Business and Management Division Prof. Stella CHO, Dean of Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor Jeff Wilkinson.
Prof. Zhang started her speech with her appreciation for UIC's admirable vision and UIC students' impressive English level. She said, "We are making history and are supposed to have a bright future". She encouraged UIC students to build up a vast stock of knowledge, to enhance analytical ability, to develop spirit of cooperation and service, and to make it with persistence.
The World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) were considered as three backbones of economy systems of the present world. Prof. Zhang emphasized how important the role WTO played on international trade ranging from trade, to intellectual properties and to investment. In addition, she gave a brief description of five basic principles including national treatment, most-favored nation treatment, reciprocal benefits, fair trade and transparency.
Referring to the WTO Appellate Body, Prof. Zhang made detailed introductions about the structure members, paperwork, dispute settlement mechanism and other aspects. She stated that, all members independent of government were charged with the obligation of dealing with appellate cases in a fair way and improving multilateral trading system in conformity with WTO rules.
In the wake of the speech, students were active in communicating with Prof. Zhang. Some asked about the most challenging thing Prof. Zhang had ever encountered. She looked back upon the days when she had to sacrifice large amounts of sleeping time to pick up English which was highly distinctive from French as her first foreign language. Some was also interested in her strong capability of balancing family and career as a female. She placed emphasis on determination, persistence and sacrifice that led her to glorious success. When asked about her own opinion about dumping, she covered three formation causes including lower-than-normal product prices, existent economic damages and causation relation in her statement. She said, solid evidence should be offered to proof dumping was in existence and to argue the case. She hoped that China would make great efforts to develop the market-oriented economy.
Before the High Table Dinner, Prof. Zhang already had a small scale communication with some GIR students at B102 Lecture Hall and with UIC President Prof. Ng Ching-Fai and Executive Vice President Prof. Kwok Siu-Tong at the Oasis meeting room.
Prof. Zhang set high value upon the mission statement of UIC. She said, "I identified myself with the developmental pattern of combining foreign advanced ideas with rich Chinese traditional culture. I hope UIC students can arm themselves with solid knowledge and persevere with their efforts on the path towards success. "
Reporter: Huang Shanqing
Photos taken by Zhong Xueying, Richard Xu
Editor: Richard Xu
MPRO
