China’s Foreign Investment Legal Regime

Yawen Zheng, Ph.D (2021), University of Edinburgh, is a postdoctoral fellow of investment law and policy at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore. Her work has appeared in journals including the Journal of World Investment and Trade.

Preface and Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables

List of Legislation, Normative Documents, Treaties and Non-binding Documents

  Chinese Legislation and Normative Documents

   Chinese Laws and Amendments Passed by the National People’s Congress

   Administrative Regulations and Normative Documents Passed by the State Council

   Rules and Normative Documents Passed by Organs of the State Council

   Local Regulations and other Normative Documents

  China’s Investment Treaties and Treaties with Investment Provisions

  Other China’s Agreements and Treaties

  Other Legislation and Institution Rules, Non-binding Documents,Conventions and Treaties

List of Cases

Abbreviation and Acronyms



1 China’s Two-Way Investments and Its Development Goals

 1China’s Development Goals Relating to Its Foreign Investments

  1.1 Building Technological Capacity

  1.2 Deepening Integration into the Global Economy

  1.3 Promotion of Green Development

  1.4 Protection of Security

  1.5 Participation in Global Economic Governance and Rule-Making

  1.6 Requirements of the Development Goals for China’s Foreign Investment Legal Regime

 2Historical Development of China’s Inward Foreign Investments

 3Historical Development of China’s Outward Foreign Investments



2 China’s Domestic Law Governing Inbound Foreign Direct Investment

 1Historical Development of China’s Domestic Foreign Investment Legal Regime

  1.1 Historical Evolution of the Laws Governing the Three Major Types of FIE s

  1.2 The Change of Guideline Catalogues of Foreign Investment Industries and Project Approval Procedures

  1.3 The Incremental Establishment of the National Security Review Mechanism

 2The Recent Reform of China’s Foreign Investment Legal Regime

  2.1 Positive Steps towards China’s Development Goals

  2.2 False Steps towards China’s Development Goals

 3Conclusion



3 China’s Domestic Law Governing Outbound Foreign Direct Investment

 1Historical Development of China’s Domestic Legal Regime Governing ODI s before “Going-out”

 2Ex ante and ex post Supervision of China’s ODI s

  2.1 Ex ante Supervision of Overseas Investment Projects

  2.2Ex ante Supervision of Overseas Enterprises

  2.3Ex post Supervision of ODIs

 3Promotion of China’s ODI s

 4Protection of China’s ODI s

  4.1 Service Provided by the Authorities

  4.2 Investment Insurance

 5Possibility of Establishing China’s Investment Court

 6Conclusion



4 China’s Investment Treaties and Treaties with Investment Provisions

 1Treaty Contents That Directly Incorporate China’s Development Goals

  1.1 Preamble

  1.2 Investment Promotion Clause

  1.3 Not Lowering of Standard Clause

  1.4 General Exception Clauses

  1.5 Criteria to Determine Indirect Expropriation

 2Provisions That Can Be Designed to Suit the Need of China’s Development Goals

  2.1 Definition of Investment

  2.2 NT Clause

  2.3 MFN Treatment

  2.4 FET Clause

  2.5 Obligation of FPS

 3The Approaches of Treaty Implementation

  3.1 Institutional Arrangements for Implementation

  3.2 Investor-State Arbitration

 4Dealing with China’s Existing Treaties That Fail to Meet theRequirements of the Development Goals

 5Conclusion



5 The “Belt and Road” Initiative and China’s Development Goals

 1BRI and Building Technological Capacity

 2BRI and Promoting Green Development

 3BRI and Participating in Global Economic Governance and Rule-Making

 4BRI and Investment Promotion

 5Challenges of Implementing the BRI

 6Proposal of Making a Comprehensive BRI Investment Treaty

  6.1 Necessity and Approach of Making a BRI Investment Treaty

  6.2 Essential Contents of the BRI Investment Treaty

 7Conclusion



Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

  Books

  Book Chapters

  Journal Articles

  Online Articles

  Official Documents, Reports and Speeches

  News Media

  Web Pages



Index