Author
Prof Huaxia Lai
Organisation/Institution
Peking University Law School
Country
CHINA
Panel
International Investment Law
Title
The Foreign Policy Dynamics of China’s IIAs: A Computational Analysis of China’s Investment Treaty Design
Abstract
China plays a pivotal role in the international investment law regime. This paper employs advanced computational methods to conduct a fine-grained analysis of China’s IIAs, exploring the interplay between treaty design and China’s shifting foreign policy objectives as well as China’s evolving role in the fast changing international investment law regime. Using a unique dataset developed by the author, which includes all publicly available Chinese treaties from 1949 to 2024, this paper first visualizes key investment treaty metadata and examines whether China’s investment treaty-making practices is distinguished from its broader treaty strategy. The paper investigates the diplomatic motivations underlying China’s IIAs and complements the quantitative analysis with insights from interviews with former Chinese diplomats experienced in treaty negotiations. Building upon the EDIT dataset of over 4,000 investment agreements, this project then analyzes the design of China’s investment agreements and their positioning within the global BIT landscape by applying natural language processing and network analysis techniques to clause-level data. The computational analysis examines key features such as investment liberalization, public policy exceptions, security exceptions, and dispute settlement clauses. Preliminary findings suggest that China’s investment treaty-making practices reflect a strategic adaptation to shifting domestic and international priorities. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature on South-South cooperation by exploring the characteristics of the BITs between China and the Global South countries. The project makes three contributions. First, it presents the first computational analysis of China’s IIAs and their positioning in the broad IIA universe. Second, it examines the political motivations behind China’s investment treaty-making decisions. Third, the findings provide insights into how emerging powers navigate international investment law, offering empirical evidence to better understand China’s positions on ISDS reform at the UNCITRAL Working Group III.
Biography
Huaxia Lai is Assistant Professor at Peking University School of International Studies and specializes in interdisciplinary studies of international law. Trained in both international law and international relations, she specializes in international economic law and international organizations. She is currently working on projects that empirically examine the ISDS reform negotiations, China and international law, and judicial politics of the UNHRC Special Procedures. She received her PhD in international law from University of Washington, MA in international relations from Peking University, and BA in international relations from University of International Relations.
