A Review Of Bilateral Investment Treaties Since 1990's And A Study On The Trends Of Their Development

Bilateral Investment Treaty(BIT) is one of the main types of international investment agreements, and has seen substantial development since 1990's. The study on the development of the BITs through the period revealed that the pattern and the content of BITs changed along with the rapid growth in amount. The changes are, first, the content of the BITs are becoming similar;second, the trend in investment liberalization is embodied by the provisions in the agreement;third, "Investor-Nation" dispute settlement procedure was introduced into BITs. Through the case study of the bilateral investment treaty between U.S. and Uruguay revealed the latest innovation in BITs: the definition of "investment", "minimum standard of treatment", more room for host country regulation, and the development of "Investor-Nation" dispute settlement procedure. The impact and implications of the development of BITs' on the movement of international investment, the legal circumstance for international investment and the developing courtiers are analyzed, referring to the research done in the last few chapters. Finally, considering China's statue quo, how China should do within the international investment negotiation is discussed, based on the study above.