China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has a significant impact on the gender equality of receiving countries. It is noted that many BRI countries are facing challenges to realizing gender equality. Nevertheless, China has not developed a gender-mainstreaming or rights-based approach to implement the BRI. Hence, this paper argues that it is China’s international human rights obligation to develop such an approach and the country should adopt a gender policy in its BRI to ensure that its overseas investments and aid programs respect and promote gender equality. First, this paper maps China’s overseas investments and aid globally and particularly in BRI countries, and examines, in general, how the BRI may have an impact on gender equality both globally and in BRI countries. Second, the paper reviews international standards on gender equality in transnational trade and foreign investment and aid projects in the context of international human rights’ norms. It clarifies China’s obligations to promote gender equality within the BRI framework under international law. Third, based on the aforementioned findings, this paper conducts a gap analysis on the gender policy followed by China’s overseas investment and aid programs set within the context of international standards. Finally, the paper recommends some possible policy steps to ensure gender equality is mainstreamed in BRI projects of China.

With the progressive implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese textile and apparel sector has extended investments in many Southeast Asian countries, of which Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bangladesh are the most prominent examples. Furthermore, the impacts of Chinese-invested textile and apparel companies on local female workers have become more important and pervasive. This paper uses data accumulated in a survey project conducted in 20 Chinese-invested textile and apparel enterprises to present the on-site situation of gender equality performance in Chinese textile and apparel investment in these three countries. It finds that, despite quick progress and sporadic good practice, Chinese textile and apparel enterprises face challenges in gender equality at both the policy and practice levels. It concludes that gender equality is critical for China’s responsible overseas investment and local social development, and Chinese enterprises must go beyond legal compliance in dealing with gender equality. In so doing, they must realize that awareness raising and gender-sensitive management mechanisms must be the core and long-term measures to address gender equality challenges.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people constitute approximately five percent of the population, but workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains troublingly commonplace. This article summarizes a large and growing body of social science research demonstrating the economic benefits of LGBT inclusion (and the costs of LGBT exclusion) in the workplace. It concludes with recommendations for (1) future research, stressing the need for more China-specific studies, which would inform policymaking and theoretical understanding of diversity and inclusion practices on business performance, (2) improving employer LGBT-inclusion policies, and (3) strengthening state protection of the equal employment rights of LGBT people.

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the harmonization process of European law in the field of group of companies, referring to the development of a national “group of companies law” — from the company law reform to the crisis and insolvency code — with the purpose of examining the main aspects of the regulation in force, considering mainly the possible interaction with the rules on the crisis of the groups of companies introduced by the Legislative Decree No. 14/2019, and with the aim of analyzing its suitability for being devoted to the prospect of harmonization across countries.

Conducting case-commentary research on the style of civil litigation documents is a key method for judges to produce legal documents, develop professional writing and creative skills, and enhance legal thinking. Such a study is an important way to deepen the reform of the judicial power operation mechanism and to improve the trial management mode. Considering the background of the judicial responsibility system reform, the localization of the research paradigms and case-commentary methods of the style of litigation documents can help reach the consensus of the legal professional community. It also helps promote judgment rules and the spirit of the law. Legal commentaries convey the important functions of public legal services to the public. It is necessary to integrate the Style of Civil Litigation Documents, the “one-stop” litigation service with the reform practice of judicial committees in China, and conduct detailed research on the procedural ruling function and guiding function of the style of civil litigation documents. By studying the guiding function of civil litigation document style for judicial behavior, litigation procedure, and entity processing, it is good for judges to broaden their ideas and methods to write civil litigation documents, enabling an examination of the localization path and method of the legal commentary research paradigm and demonstrating how to continue using the paradigm within the context of the comprehensive reform of the judicial system. Moreover, the study emphasizes how to exert the function of public legal services integrated with the style of civil litigation documents.