Mei Gechlik, director of the China Guiding Cases Project, comments on the laws governing the new Chinese network of free trade zones for International Financing Review Asia.

Early enthusiasm for China’s network of free trade zones is giving way to scrutiny over the application of new laws in the commercial districts.

Foreign financial institutions have rushed to set up operations since the Shanghai Free Trade Zone officially opened at the end of September, lured by the chance of greater access to the mainland’s financial markets.

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“In order to achieve these objectives, they [the zones] certainly need to strengthen the legal system,” Mei Gechlik, director of Stanford Law School’s China Guiding Cases Project, wrote in an emailed interview. The project analyses Chinese legal cases.

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“It has claimed to be an independent arbitration institution that has received support from the local government in Shenzhen, but there have been concerns about the validity of arbitration proceedings administered by this entity,” Gechlik said of the Qianhai panel.

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