Professor Gao Xujun, Founding Director of the Sino-German Institiute for Internatioanl Economic Law

The Sino-German Institute for International Economic Law (SGIICL)at Tongji University was founded in 2013, initiated by Reinhard Singer of Humboldt University, Astrid Stadler of the University of Konstanz, and me, with the main purpose of implementing the Framework Agreement on the Dual Master's Degree in "Comparison of German, European, and Chinese Law", which was signed by the above three universities in February 2012. According to the agreement, ten German students and ten Chinese students are enrolled in the program each year, and these students will be sent to the partner universities to study for one year, complete the credits, write a qualified thesis, and pass the joint defense, and will be awarded the academic degree certificates of law of Tongji University and Humboldt University/University of Konstanz at the same time. In order to implement the content of the above agreement and to promote the exchange of law between the three universities, the three universities decided to jointly establish the Sino-German Institute of International Economic Law.

After the launch of the above program at the three universities, it has been very popular among Chinese and foreign students.With the exception of student exchanges among the three universities during 2019-2023, which were seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the three universities have selected qualified master's degree students to participate in this program every year, and so far, a total of 171 Chinese and foreign students have completed this program. Among them, 101 master's degree students are from TongjiUniversity, while 70 students are from these twoGermanyPartners; and among these foreign students, some came from Germany, some from Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, etc. All of them successfully completed the program. and have been employed in the Chinese and German economic or educational sectors, promoting further cooperation between the Chinese and German economy and universities in their respective positions.

In order to promote academic exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and German universities, SGIICL hosts or assists in hosting a Sino-German Law Academic Forum once a year, and so far, it has hosted or assisted in hosting a total of 15 Sino-German Economic Law Academic Forums, which have discussed topics related to administrative law, civil law, company law, labor law, data law and so on. In addition, tSGIICLalso assists the Law School in organizing the international summer camp of Tongji Law School, which organizes academic exchanges of Tongji law students to Humboldt University, University of Konstanz, University of Paris, France, and so on, with a total of more than 100 academics participating in such activities.

SGIICL has also made certain contributions to the promotion of Sino-German academic exchanges. Prof. Gao Xujun presided over the translation of the series of "German Contemporary Economic Law Masterpieces", which has been published as follows: Prof. Raiser's "German Capital Company Law", "Introduction to the Sociology of Law", Prof. Wolfgang Daeubler's "German Labor Law", and Markus Ludger's "Rights and Obligations of Supervisory Boards". Rights and Obligations of Supervisory Boards" by Markus Ludger. In addition, the "Review of Fifteen Typical Cases of German Company Law", "Commentary on the Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods", and "Study on the Application of the Corporate Personality Denial System in China: A Comparison with Germany" have also been published. These works not only introduced for the first time the German legislation and judicial novelties in the relevant fields to the domestic readers, but also introduced for the first time the research method of German legal classics to the domestic counterparts, which adopted the form of German law review to comment and analyze the relevant legal provisions.

Before the establishment of SGIICL, Tongji University has already started academic exchanges with Germany in the field of law. Since 2002, the Department of Economic Law of Sino-German Institute of Tongji University has established a cooperative relationship with Humboldt University of Germany, and we have invited Prof. Thomas Raiser, Prof. Christian Kirchner, Prof. Schwark, Benoehr, Windbishler, Schroeder, Singer and so on from Humboldt University Law School to give lectures to our master students. We also organize a Sino-German Law Forum once a year with the participation of Chinese and German law experts. Since 2003, with the support of Prof. Thomas Raiser, the Sino-German School has been sending its law students to the Humboldt University Law School for a semester and assisting them in their internships at Siemens AG, Thyssen AG and the German Parliament. By 2012, the Sino-German Institute had sent more than 60 master's degree students to study at Humboldt University Law School, and the professors of Humboldt University Law School were impressed by the students' linguistic and professional abilities.

SGIICLis itself a bridge to promote academic exchanges and cooperation in law between China, Germany and Europe. In the past ten years, its greatest achievement has been to train more than 200 international legal talents who are familiar with the legal systems and cultures of China, Germany and China and who are proficient in Chinese, German and English, and who are playing the role of a bridge to promote Sino-German-Chinese legal or economic cooperation. I was very impressed that not only the Tongji participants in the program agreed that it was an excellent program, but also the German participants. When I met with several German alumni of the program during my visit to Germany in August 2023, and informed them that the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) might no longer support the program, they immediately told me: don't worry, if that happens, they alumni can raise funds from their graduates or from the corporate sector to sponsor German students to study at Tongji Law School. With such a good platform and the support of such excellent alumni, I still firmly believe that SGIICLLaw has a great future despite the unstable international political situation and the changing international situation. I sincerely hope that SGIICLwill get better and better with the support of Tongji University Law School, Humboldt University Law School, University of Konstanz Law School and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the efforts of all colleagues.Besides it will also continue to contribute to the promotion of Sino-German academic exchanges and cooperation.