On June 10, 2023, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal delivered its judgment in in the Peking University Founder Group Keepwell Agreement case. This decision has drawn wide-ranging attention from the financial and legal sectors and is regarded as a milestone in relation to the enforcement of Keepwell Agreements in cross-border financing involving PRC-related entities. This article aims to elucidate the main points of the judgment, clarify the judicial attitude toward Keepwell Agreements, and discuss the practical implications for cross-border financing. This will be done with particular emphasis on the credit enhancement effect, i.e. the effectiveness of such agreements in improving the creditworthiness of debtors.More
2025-06-30ARTICLES Sun Rui, Zhang Lin, Wu Yu, Zhao Xue Trump's frequent and unpredictable tariff policy changes have, since April 2025, brought huge uncertainty to global trade, resulting in a sharp increase in tariff risks in international transactions. The sudden increase in tariffs may lead to a surge in the cost of contracts which had already been entered into, and may accordingly engender disputes between the contracting parties. Moreover, future contracts will need to carefully consider whether to adopt tariff clauses. This article will discuss the risks and countermeasures which may be warranted by the issues canvassed above.More
With cross-border disputes on the rise, the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments in China has become a matter of increasing importance.More
2025-04-25ARTICLES Alan Li, Celine Cen, Huang Ziyi With cross-border disputes on the rise, the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments in China has become a matter of increasing importance. This article provides an overview of the legal framework and the applicable process for the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgements in China. This covers, inter alia, the application and case filing stage, the Chinese courts’ examination of the application and their considerations in granting or refusing recognition and enforcement, as well as the ultimate ruling on the application and enforcement thereafter.More
Asia's most popular arbitration institutions, CIETAC, SIAC, and HKIAC, have all revised their arbitration rules in the last 2 years. These revisions have sought to introduce new measures enhancing the efficiency of arbitration. As a quick path to an efficient arbitration, the expedited arbitration procedures may be of particular interest to commercial parties. Focusing on the expedited arbitration procedures in the CIETAC, SIAC, and HKIAC arbitration rules, this analysis provides an overview of the threshold amounts for expedited procedures, the structural features of each procedure and potential risks in the adoption of such procedures – notably with imperfect estimations of the arbitration duration.More