—— A Side Note on the Graduation of the China-OECD LLM Programme on Taxation

By Jiang He

The mid-summer heat on Xiamen Island is accompanied by endless cicada chirps, while warm applause echoes through the School of Law at Xiamen University. On June 27, during the school's graduation ceremony, students of the "China-OECD LLM Programme on Taxation" (COTP) received deep blue certificates from their mentors, as fellow students applauded from the audience. Smiles from around the world converged here, painting a vivid picture of China's deep involvement in global tax governance and its construction of an open talent cultivation system.

Co-established by Xiamen University, the State Taxation Administration, the Ministry of Finance, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the China-OECD LLM Programme on Taxation aims to cultivate high-quality composite talents familiar with international tax rules for China and other developing countries. "As a member of the 'Global 15 Law Schools Pilot Program' in international investment law, our school is committed to practice-oriented cultivation of high-level, high-quality legal talents for international affairs," said Chen Peng, Dean of the School of Law at Xiamen University, in his message to students. "We hope you will always maintain respect for professional knowledge and a passion for learning, take on heavy responsibilities, and actively engage in the cause of global tax governance."

The diverse curriculum system and teaching methods in the LLM programme have laid a solid theoretical foundation for students, inspiring them to shift from "passively receiving knowledge" to "actively discovering problems." "My graduation thesis studies the practical application of voluntary information disclosure systems in various countries. There are still many debatable issues regarding the implementation of this system in China, and I hope to provide references for its improvement," said Zhao Canchang, a 2022 Chinese student. The international classroom atmosphere has sparked intellectual exchanges among students. "In past discussions, I noticed that tax incentive policies in some foreign students' home countries heavily favor outbound direct investment," mentioned Wu Pengyao, a 2023 Chinese student. "As a major capital importer and exporter, China faces the challenge of stabilizing its domestic tax base while helping enterprises enter the global stage – this is the topic I focus on."

In their final academic year, students of the programme traveled to "global classrooms" in New York, Paris, Vienna, and other cities through the international platform built by the project. With her own efforts and a recommendation letter from the programme's mentor, Zhao Canchang successfully applied for an internship at the United Nations in July last year, participating in editing guidelines to enhance tax transparency. "My Kenyan supervisor, Muciri, provided me with a lot of guidance, and through this experience, I gained a more intuitive understanding of the international practice of tax information exchange," Zhao said.

As the ceremony proceeded on the quiet afternoon of Xiamen University, the morning was just breaking in Paris. Makmot Victor Philip Oyena, a 2023 student of the programme, was about to start his new day interning at the OECD. In April this year, the trainee from the

Uganda Revenue Authority secured an internship at the OECD's Paris headquarters. While participating in a capacity-building project for developing countries, he found that the OECD invests 2.1 million euros annually in training African tax officials, but resource allocation is constrained by countries' digital infrastructure. This reminded him of what he witnessed during his field visit to China's tax authorities: "Chinese tax officials use big data processing and artificial intelligence to analyze the implementation of tax policies, which I believe is highly effective in improving tax compliance," Makmot said.

Although missing the graduation ceremony was a pity, for Makmot, the completion of the programme is not an end but a new starting point for serving global tax governance. He plans to promote tax treaty negotiations in his home country after returning. Santos John Terry, a 2023 trainee from the Philippines interning at the OECD headquarters, also has a clear plan: "I hope to participate in formulating my country's tax regulations and apply the digital taxation experience learned here." Wu Pengyao, who completed his visiting studies at the Austrian and International Tax Law Center of the Vienna University of Economics earlier this year, is now working at the Altay Prefecture Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration, contributing his expertise to promoting internationalized tax collection and management in Xinjiang. Beyond tax authorities, more graduates have devoted themselves to enterprises and tax-related professional service institutions, specializing in areas such as transfer pricing and cross-border tax compliance, providing references for international tax governance.

"Uphold integrity, engage in practical training, and realize self-worth" – this is the graduation message from Guo Jiayin, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Division of the International Taxation Department of the State Taxation Administration. From Xiamen University's "seaview classrooms" to the OECD's negotiation tables, from Vienna's academic halls to the frontlines of tax collection in Xinjiang, the programme has built a "global classroom" connecting the world. Students stepping into tax practice from here are not only China's bridge to the global tax community but also carry away more than just fiscal and tax knowledge – they bear precious friendships and visions for transnational cooperation.

"Those sleepless nights spent delving into tax law have finally condensed into bonds beyond national borders," said Owiny Mark Anthony, a tax officer from the Uganda

Revenue Authority and student representative at the graduation ceremony. These bonds now transform into a promise for the future: "We have become members of the global tax network and a solid foundation for future transnational cooperation, ready to contribute to tax reforms."

(Source: China Tax News, July 2, 2025; translated by Dong Xiaoqing)