Legal Analysis On The Effectiveness Of China's Bilateral Investment Treaties In Attracting Foreign Direct Investment

Over the past several decades there has been a significant global expansion of bilateral investment treaties(BITs)which aim to improve protection of foreign investors' rights and induce foreign direct investment(FDI).The assumption is that countries with BITs should have high levels of FDI,however,empirical econometric studies conducted over the last fifteen years have produced mixed results.This diversity and contradictions found within previous research motivated this dissertation.The main focus of this study is to assess two important signalling and commitment effects in BITs by linking them to the content of treaties.The proposed FDI attractiveness assessment framework is constructed by combining the signalling and commitment effects with the primary functions of BITs,namely investment protection and promotion.This thesis looks at the signalling effects of China's BITs through an analysis of investment promotion provisions(IPPs)in BITs signed between 2000 and 2015.The line of inquiry also includes transparency and consultation provisions as a part of IPPs.In order to assess commitment effect,treatment of investment articles in China's BITs were selected.These articles can be divided into three main components,which are analysed in detail as the essential commitments of contracting parties.They include fair and equitable treatment(FET),most favoured nations(MFN),and national treatment(NT).Accessing to investment promotion and treatment provisions in China's BITs revealed that there is space to improve and recalibrate the scope of the aforementioned provisions in order to increase the FDI attractiveness of BITs.The research results suggest that an inclusion of direct investment promotion and updated investment treatment provisions in future BITs can ensure that BITs are important tools for attracting FDI as well as other economic determinants.