Abstract
This article examines the text of each publicly-available International Investment Agreement signed by China since joining the WTO, specifically tracking the presence and evolution of clauses which promote domestic sovereignty over issues of health, safety, and the environment. The subject investment treaties provide a unique lens by which to view China's evolving understanding and growing commitment towards these issues, and they effectively illustrate the trend of using investment treaties as a tool to advance global standards and promote reforms with effects reaching beyond the investment world. Overall, China's evolving IIA practices over the last sixteen years have furthered its WTO-era vision, forging a new generation of IIAs which have progressively focused on long-term security and sustainability as critical goals, both for foreign investment returns as well as the host State's sovereignty to regulate issues of health, safety, and the environment.
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