Episode 26 - Xingyu Yan- Bridging Brussels and Beijing: Interoperability, Institutional Design, and Digital Markets Regulation

In this episode, Anush and Kena are joined by Dr Xingyu Yan, Assistant Professor at Xiamen University School of Law and recipient of the ASCOLA Best Paper Award in 2021 for his work "Towards a More Competitive Mobile Payment Industry: Standardization and Beyond." Xingyu's research bridges European and Chinese competition law, offering a genuinely comparative perspective on how different legal systems respond to the challenges posed by digital platforms. The conversation covers Xingyu's work on interoperability mandates under Article 7 of the Digital Markets Act, where he and Yang Feng propose an "ecosystems competition" framework drawing on the Chinese experience with platforms like WeChat. We also discuss his joint work with Hans Vedder on operationalising the special responsibility of dominant undertakings under Article 102 TFEU through a minimum efficient scale test, and the central arguments of his recent book, "Competition Law in China and the EU: Institutional Dynamics and Theories of Harm," which examines how the contrasting institutional structures of the EU and Chinese enforcement regimes shape the development of theories of harm in practice. The episode closes with a broader discussion of whether ex ante regulation through instruments like the DMA represents a necessary evolution or risks undermining traditional ex post competition law enforcement.