UPDATES ON POTENTIAL EU-CHINA COMPREHENSIVE AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENT (WITH A FOCUS ON INVESTMENT PROTECTION AND ISDS) – NEW WINE IN NEW BOTTLES?

On 30 December 2020, the European Union and China announced their Agreement in Principle for the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). This is a landmark development for both parties in these long-running negotiations which began in 2012. On 22 January 2021, in the interest of transparency, Brussels published certain draft sections (here) of the … Read more

PCA–Hong Kong Host Country Agreement anticipates increase in disputes involving States in Asia

At a ceremony in Beijing on 4 January 2015, representatives of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the Central Government of the People’s Republic of China signed a Host Country Agreement and a related Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements to provide facilities and support services in Hong Kong for PCA-administered dispute resolution proceedings. The Government … Read more

Australia and China conclude free trade agreement

On 17 November 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that Australia and China had concluded a free trade agreement that has been under negotiation since April 2005. The agreement will now be prepared in both English and Chinese for signature by the parties, after which the agreement will go … Read more

China sued by South Korean property developer at ICSID

This week, a South Korean property developer (“Ansung”)  became the second ever investor to request ICSID arbitration against the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) (Ansung Housing Co., Ltd. v. People’s Republic of China (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/25)).  Little is known about the claims, which are reported to arise from the alleged actions of the provincial … Read more

China-Taiwan Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement: dispute resolution mechanisms exclude international arbitration

On 9 August 2012, after two years of negotiation, Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese negotiators signed the Cross-strait Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (“IPA“).  The IPA is expected to promote cross-strait economic exchanges, and to attract more Mainland Chinese investors into Taiwan and vice-versa.  Given the sensitivity of cross-strait relations (China does not recognise Taiwan … Read more