Wang, Xiaoye; Su, Jessica --- "China’s Anti-Monopoly Law: Agent of Competition Enhancement or Engine of Industrial Policy?" [2012] ELECD 420; in Zimmer, Daniel (ed), "The Goals of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Goals of Competition Law

Editor(s): Zimmer, Daniel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857936608

Section: Chapter 20

Section Title: China’s Anti-Monopoly Law: Agent of Competition Enhancement or Engine of Industrial Policy?

Author(s): Wang, Xiaoye; Su, Jessica

Number of pages: 19

Extract:

20. China's Anti-Monopoly Law: agent
of competition enhancement or
engine of industrial policy?
Xiaoye Wang* and Jessica Su**

It has been observed that the topic of competition policy objectives is an
evergreen one with new components. Depending on the stage of economic
development and the size of the economy, the variation in competition
policy objectives is seen both across time and across jurisdictions.1 As
the first comprehensive competition law of the world's largest emerging
market, China's Anti-Monopoly Law 2007 (AML) and the law's objec-
tives have drawn great interest inside and outside the global antitrust
community.2 This chapter assesses the relationship between competition
policy and industrial policy in the context of the AML and the evolving
AML enforcement in China. Through exploring the industrial policy
implications of the relevant AML provisions, the Coca-Cola/Huiyuan
decision and the merger between China Unicom and China Netcom, this
chapter attempts to answer whether the AML is an agent of competition
enhancement or an engine of industrial policy.


1 INTRODUCTION

China practised a socialist centrally planned economy from 1949 until
1978. Since the late 1970s, China has been in a transition from a planned


* Distinguished Professor of Law, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
** Postdoctoral Fellow, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The authors
would like to thank Deborah Healey for helpful comments.
1 American Bar Association, `Report on Antitrust Policy Objectives', § IIIA,

http://www.abanet.org/antitrust/at-comments/2003/2003.shtml; World Bank and
OECD, A ...