From 9 to 10 November, the '2024 Annual Academic Conference of the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association and the Asian Sports Law Conference', organised by the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association and Wuhan University, and co-hosted by Wuhan University's Institute for International Rule of Law, School of Law, and Institute for International Law, was successfully convened at Wuhan University. The conference attracted a diverse group of distinguished guests, including officials from the General Administration of Sport of China, law professors from prestigious universities, sports law experts, executives and legal professionals from sports companies, law firm partners, and legal journalists, as well as participants from Japan and South Korea, including board members, scholars from the Japanese Society for Sports Law and the Korean Society for Sports and Entertainment Law, university professors, and lawyers from law firms in Japan and South Korea, with over a hundred guests in total.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Bo Chu, the Executive Vice President of the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association and Director of the Policy and Regulation Department of the General Administration of Sport of China. Taiyan Huang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Wuhan University, Jiasheng Zhang, President of the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association and Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport of China, Keiji Kawaai, Vice President of the Japanese Society for Sports Law and Professor at Doshisha University, Kiran Nam, President of the Korean Society for Sports and Entertainment Law and Professor at Dankook University, and Hongxiang Wang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the China Law Society, Member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Deputy Director of the Constitution and Law Committee, each delivered remarks at the opening ceremony.
Mr. David Wu, Partner at Llinks Law Offices, who also serves as the Vice President of the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association, an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and a member and arbitrator of the China Sports Arbitration Committee, was invited to the conference and presented a keynote speech at the first sub-forum: Foreign-related Rule of Law and Global Governance Forum. Prior to this event, Mr. Wu had also been invited to the '2008 International Symposium on Asian Sports Law' in Xi'an and the '2015 International Academic Research Conference of the Asian Association for Sports Law' in Japan.
At this conference, Mr. Wu spoke on the topic 'A Preliminary Exploration of Sanctions and Counter-sanctions Mechanisms in International Sports', starting with the incident involving Chinese swimmers facing U.S. extraterritorial jurisdiction before the Paris Olympics, analysing the disputes surrounding the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, and expanding the discussion to include the sanctions imposed on Russia by international sports organizations due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as other historical sanction cases in international sports. Mr. Wu emphasized the principles of Olympism and political neutrality and concluded by elucidating the legal principles of sports countermeasures and proposing preliminary ideas for counter-sanctions mechanisms.
Scholars from China, Japan, and South Korea delivered keynote speeches in the main report session and the China-Japan-Korea Scholars Exchange Forum, gathering together for extensive academic exchanges.
The conference also featured several sub-forums, focusing on topics such as sports modernization and sports human rights, sports industry, sports data, and intellectual property rights, sports events and industry management, anti-doping governance, and sports arbitration for in-depth discussions. The closing ceremony was presided over by Yongping Xiao, Vice President of the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association, and Professor Siyuan Tian, Executive Vice President and Director of the Academic Committee of the China Law Society's Sports Law Research Association, announced the list of outstanding papers and provided an academic summary.
