Legal Analysis On The Ansung Housing Co.,Ltd.v.people's Republic Of China Case

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes(ICSID)plays an important role in resolving investment disputes between transnational investors and host countries.Since ICSID modified its arbitration rule in 1996,the number of cases registered increased rapidly.According to the statistics,ICSID has handled 730 cases so far,of which 693 cases were processed after the rules were modified.It is worth mentioning that the number of cases involving China is 9.With the pace of “opening”,the number of foreign investors investing in China is increasing.Therefore,after China officially became a party to the ICSID Convention in 1993,it becomes frequent that foreign investors resolve their disputes by summitting an arbitration application to the ICSID.However,the result of trial is uncertain.Therefore,it will be an effective measure for China to make use of the procedural provisions of the ICSID Arbitration Rules.In the case Ansung Housing Co.,Ltd v.the People Republic of China,Chinese government,as the respondents,made use of the procedural provisions of Article 41(5)of the ICSID Arbitration Rules,and the relationship between the MFN clause and the statute of limitations,and thus finally won in the initial stage of arbitration before going through the matter of factuality.It reflects that procedural rules have important practical implications for Chinese governments when participating in international arbitration cases.There are some inspirations triggered by this case,which mainly based on the legal issues in this paper.First,according to the previous ICSID arbitral tribunal's determination of the scope of application of the MFN clause,the MFN clause has the effect of expanding the jurisdiction of ICSID.Thus the author suggests that China should clarify the scope of application of the MFN clause when it signs a bilateral investment treaty.Therefore,China needs to clarify the scope of application of the MFN clause when it signs a bilateral investment treaty.Second,China needs to make use of procedural rules like article 41(5)in order to occupy the initiative in arbitration with reference to the experience of foreign countries.Next,China should improve the training mechanism of professional personnel and cultivate professional personnel for international dispute arbitration.Finally,previous arbitration cases play an important role in ICSID and we should pay more attention on it.