6 Factors to be Considered for China’s Future Investment Treaties

Abstract

China has been an active negotiator of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The question is whether China should think about a of investment treaties. If so, what are the factors that need to be considered in formulating its position? There are both global and domestic factors having impact. Globally, it is recent practice to improve traditional BITs following the lessons learned from investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) practices. Domestically, China has grown from a capital-importing state to one with two-way investment. Though ISDS is still to both Chinese companies and the Chinese government, improvement of the system should be included in designing future treaties, so that the system becomes more predictable and consistent for both the state party and the private party. One of the developments in international investment rule-making is that new generation international investment treaties (IIAs) provide for not only investment protection but also gradual liberalization. Keywords: bilateral investment treaties (BITs); China; international investment treaties (IIAs); investorstate dispute settlement (ISDS)