A Study On The Position And Strategies Of China's Contracting Bit Under The Background Of Identity Transformation

With the deepening of global economic integration,the identity for some countries participating in global economic issues is not singular anymore.Scholars both at home and abroad have been paying close attention to role transformation of the countries.China is not an exception.China has accelerated its overseas investment since the beginning of this century,gradually changing itself from a large capital-importing country focusing on FDI absorption to a large country with dual identity of capital-importing and capital-exporting country that stresses both "foreign investment attraction and outbound investment".In the academic field,there has been an extensive discussion over the identity transformation of China,especially after 2012 when the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the People's Republic of China for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments(2012 Sino-Canada BIT)was signed.With identity transformation of China in international investment practices as the background,this thesis focuses on the research on standpoint orientation of China caused by identity transformation and on selection in China's BIT practice in the future,including premise and theoretical foundation of the position of China's contracting BIT,practice of standpoint positioning as well as strategies for core issues in existing BITs.The thesis also manages to find a prudent balance between protection of foreign investors and pubic interests of the host country from the perspective of sustainable development.The thesis is composed of three parts,including:an introduction,the main text and a conclusion.The main text consists of four chapters.Chapter one first illustrate the identity transformation of China in international investment practice.In combination with the debates over the identity transformation and BIT standpoint orientation in the international law academic circles and professions circles,and with 2012 Sino-Canada BIT as an example,this chapter draws forth the thinking on China's standpoint positioning in BIT negotiations,from which lessons are learned to provide experiences and references for China's current and future negotiations on investment agreement.Chapter two discusses orientation of contracting standpoint mainly from theoretical perspectives.This chapter first scientifically determines the nature of national identity of China and analyzes the uniqueness and complexity of identity transformation of China in the practice of international investment.Then,it scientifically orientates the contracting standpoint from two layers,namely,national interests and values.Finally,from the perspective of fundamental principles,it scientifically directs the orientation of contracting standpoint.This chapter points out that national identity,national interests,values and national external behaviors are actually an organic integration,because national identity and national interests mutually construct,only to identify clearly national identity and national interests in a period of time,we could understand national behaviors.However,at the same time national identity and national interests are influenced by norms and values commonly accepted by the international community.Chapter three focuses on analysis of the practice of orientation of China's BIT contracting standpoint and the future choice of negotiation strategy.The history of the orientation of China's BIT contracting standpoint shows that China experienced three stages in this sector:China initially stressed national sovereignty as the capital-importing country.After a period of time,it emphasized investment liberalization mainly as capital-importing country.Now it adopts a model that seeks prudent balance between investor protection and national regulation sovereignty.Meanwhile,China's BIT practice also proved that China took different measures when negotiating BITs with different countries.It is proposed in this chapter that China should continue to present different negotiation strategy based on the other party or other parties in the negotiations and should not treat all countries equally without discrimination.Besides that,China should also not pursuing the exemplary effect of Model BIT.Chapter four discusses,on the basis of chapter two and chapter three,China's standpoint and strategies of core issues during BIT negotiations under the background of identity transformation.After analysis of the core provisions in China's BITs practice,finding the shortcomings of related provisions,the author provides some suggestions to deal with possible challenges faced by China during BIT negotiations,and also put forward some effective stategies for certain issues in BIT negotiations.The author thinks that,as a large developing country with dual identity of capital-importing country and capital-exporting country,China faces more complexities in BIT contracting practice compared with other countries.Thus,on the basis of fully respect the state sovereignty of the other contracting party,China should hold on its own orientation of state identity and BIT contracting standpoint,and make reasonable assessments in advance on possible issues and risks during BIT negotiations.