Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation

Product Description

China’s rise as an economic superpower has caused growing anxieties in the West. Europe is now applying stricter scrutiny over takeovers by Chinese state-owned giants, while the United States is imposing aggressive sanctions on leading Chinese technology firms such as Huawei, TikTok, and WeChat. Given the escalating geopolitical tensions between China and the West, are there any hopeful prospects for economic globalization?
 In her compelling new book Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism, Angela Zhang examines the most important and least understood tactic that China can deploy to counter western sanctions: antitrust law. Zhang reveals how China has transformed antitrust law into a powerful economic weapon, supplying theory and case studies to explain its strategic application over the course of the Sino-US tech war. Zhang also exposes the vast administrative discretion possessed by the Chinese government, showing how agencies can leverage the media to push forward aggressive enforcement. She further dives into the bureaucratic politics that spurred China’s antitrust regulation, providing an incisive analysis of how divergent missions, cultures, and structures of agencies have shaped regulatory outcomes.
 More than a legal analysis, Zhang offers a political and economic study of our contemporary moment. She demonstrates that Chinese exceptionalism-as manifested in the way China regulates and is regulated, is reshaping global regulation and that future cooperation relies on the West comprehending Chinese idiosyncrasies and China achieving greater transparency through integration with its Western rivals.
 

Review

“Angela Zhang’s new book, Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism, fills a big gap in understanding the mystery of China, the most dramatically emerging economy and one with the apparent goal to become the global economic superpower, and antitrust, a discipline adopted by China, which notionally limits power and facilitates open, efficient markets. Professor Zhang reveals China’s nuanced intertwining of politics, institutions, and law. She uncovers the bureaucratic environment and the incentives of the bureaucrats and the law enforcers. She tells the story, not apparent to the outsider, of how decisions are really made. The book is a necessary addition to any library about China as an emerging global power, politics, and the limits of law.” 

– 
Eleanor Fox, Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Trade Regulation, New York University School of Law

“As Chinese technology firms have become global players, they have come under increasing scrutiny by Western policy makers. As Angela Zhang demonstrates, antitrust law has become an instrument not only of economics but also of strategic rivalry. Informed by legal analysis, game theory, and deep knowledge of both Chinese and Western legal practices, this valuable book provides a guide both to present-day controversies and to a more hopeful way forward.” 
– 
Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, Author of The Globalization Paradox

“This is an excellent book on a hugely important issue. Professor Zhang situates her sharp legal analysis in the broader contexts of Chinese economy and politics. An indispensable and timely treatment of the topic. As tensions are rising between China and the rest of the global community, this book provides a way and an angle for us to make sense of these developments. I recommend the book highly to anyone who has an interest in Chinese political economy.” 
– 
Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management, MIT Sloan School of Management, Author of Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics

“Angela Zhang offers a deeply insightful and thought-provoking account of China’s antitrust policy today. Showing how law, economics, and politics interact, Zhang reveals the peculiar place that China occupies in the world of antitrus