China's Free Trade Agreement Strategies

Dr. Francine Hug is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong working on investment, energy, and environmental law reforms pertaining to China’s coal phase-out along the Belt and Road Initiative, and the implementation of Just Energy Transition Partnerships.

Previously, she was a Visiting Scholar at the East-West Center (USA), where her research focused on Chinese deep-sea mining and submarine cable investments in the Pacific. To this purpose, she analysed the effectiveness of domestic and international laws at the cybersecurity, energy, environment, and Indigenous rights nexus.

Prior to academia, Dr. Hug served as Senior Economic Officer at the Embassy of Switzerland to China, Mongolia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In this role, she participated in various treaty negotiations, including the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement, provided ministerial advice, wrote policy analyses, codesigned macroeconomic strategies, managed projects on e.g. fossil fuel subsidies reforms, clean energy, or WTO-law, and cooperated with international organisations, such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, International Labour Organisation, International Institute for Sustainable Development, and World Economic Forum.

Dr. Hug further served in non-governmental organisations in Tanzania, Haiti, Peru, and South Africa on microfinance, sustainable development, capacity building, health policies, and conflict resolution. She gained additional experiences at the International Olympic Committee, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, British Council, Nokia Siemens Networks, a Singapore-based think-tank, and in journalism.

Dr. Hug holds a Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore, M.A. from the University of London (SOAS), and B.A. from Beijing Language and Culture University.