Relationships

One of the key competitive advantages of Sidley’s China practice is the depth of relationships that our lawyers have with several key government agencies and regulatory bodies in the P.R.C. Several of our partners in China have developed close working relationships with key governmental officials within the region’s regulatory agencies that facilitate our understanding of applicable rules and regulations and the development of business solutions. Examples of our experience with P.R.C. governmental agencies include the following:

• We are proud to have acted as international counsel to the P.R.C. Ministry of Finance since the P.R.C. Government entered the international debt capital markets in 1994. Recently, we represented the P.R.C. Ministry of Finance in connection with the debut public offering and institutional placement in Hong Kong by the Central Government of the People's Republic of China of Renminbi-denominated bonds in an aggregate principal amount of RMB6 billion. This transaction was named Debt Market Deal of the Year and China Deal of the Year by Asian Legal Business’ Hong Kong and China Law Awards, respectively, in 2010.
• We acted as counsel to China Life Insurance Company Limited in connection with the securities fraud class actions brought against it before the Southern District Court of New York. Sidley also won, on behalf of the client, the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ complaint by Judge Griesa of the same Court in September 2008.
• We acted as counsel to the P.R.C. Ministry of Foreign Affairs in two high-profile litigations before the Southern District Court of New York brought by U.S. plaintiffs in connection with defunct bonds issued by the previous Chinese government in 1913. 
• We have acted as counsel to quasi-sovereign P.R.C. issuers such as China Development Bank and The Export-Import Bank of China in connection with their global bond offerings, including their Renminbi-denominated bond offerings in Hong Kong. 
• We have acted as counsel to the P.R.C. Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) as its amicus counsel with respect to an antitrust class action brought before the Eastern District Court of the United States against several Chinese manufacturing exporters of vitamin C. This is believed to be the first ever U.S. antitrust case faced by Chinese companies and the first time a U.S. law firm is representing the P.R.C. Central Government as amicus counsel. 
• We acted as counsel to MOFCOM in a WTO dispute challenging restrictions on the importation of Chinese poultry products into the U.S. The engagement resulted in China succeeding in all of its claims before the WTO Panel against the U.S. and the U.S. not re-instituting the poultry import ban. 
• We represented MOFCOM in a WTO dispute involving China – Rare Earths, in defense of export restraints responding to claims made by the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
• We represented MOFCOM in a WTO dispute involving China – Raw Materials in defense of claims made by the U.S., the EU and Mexico concerning China’s export duty and quota measures, its quota administration regime, and its export licensing system. Sidley secured an important victory in this case by convincing the Appellate Body to annul one third of the panel report because the complainants violated China’s due process rights in making claims that were insufficiently clear. 
• We represented a Chinese provincial government in connection with a commercial dispute and sovereign immunity before a U.S. federal court in California. 
• We have worked closely with MOFCOM on other antitrust matters in China and maintained good working relationships with the members of its Anti-Monopoly Bureau. 
• We maintain close dialogue with the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). 
• We have maintained close ties with the P.R.C. State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), the P.R.C. State Administration for Environmental Protection and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).