| Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) eliminated the topic of multilateral investment from the Doha round of trade talks in August 2004, the promotion of free international investment has been emphasized on three main levels, thus unilateral, bilateral, and regional, especially the final one. Developed countries including the United States are accelerating the foundation of regional Agreements on trade and investment. Following WTO, the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) have been globally dominating in international investment. The U.S. efforts of promoting talks on TPP and TTIP aim at a new order of international investment, where U.S. plays the central role. These two Agreements represent the higher standard and broader perspective of international trade Agreements, which may have vital impacts on regional economic integration.In this background, China desperately needs adjusting the foreign investment access policy, to adapt to the bilateral trade relationships with countries in the regional investment Agreements.In this background,the Chinese government officially built the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone in August 22,2013, to positively cope with challenges. The "negative list" approach to foreign investment in Shanghai Free Trade Zone indicates the initial exploration in management mode, including pre-national treatment and negative list in foreign investment access area. This represents the determination of China on linking its investment policies with international ones, and also shows the resolution of Chinese government to streamline administration, delegate government power, and further open up.Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone should take full advantage of its location and policy benefits, and adjust its foreign investment access policy, to effectively integrate into the new global economic order and adapt to new regulations of international economy. Then the further development of China in foreign investment can be expected.Throughout the trade-related investment measures of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, the highlight is the "pre-access national treatment" to foreign investment in the zone,which is giant progress compared to the previous related Chinese laws and regulations. Meanwhile the "negative list" is brought in. These two measures mean a lot to Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, which aim at attracting more foreign investment and improving the effects of opening up. In a word, the "negative list" management mode is expected to provide a chance of trial for Chinese bilateral investment Agreement talks, and may also prepare China for contracting foreign investment Agreements with U.S. and Europe in the future.The methods of literature and comparative studies,and historical research are mainly used in this thesis. First, a survey on current investment Agreements of different countries is conducted. On the basis of related policies of developed countries, in accordance with the state of the art of Chinese legislation regarding foreign investment access, this thesis analyzes the current situation, worth, as well as drawbacks of "negative list" management mode. Then some advice is given. The main work follows as:First, a review on the related concepts, legal basis, origin and development of "negative list" is given, and then the pre-access national treatment mode, which is closely related to "negative list", is generally analyzed. Furthermore, a summary of the international "negative list" management modes corresponding to different countries’ investment Agreements is given. Some conclusions which suit the new regulations on international investment are presented.Second, some "negative list" management modes applied to bilateral investment protection Agreements and regional Agreements are analyzed, taking developed countries such as U.S. and Japan, developing countries such as China and Philippines, and underdeveloped countries such as Rwanda as examples.Through the overview of different presentation forms, number of lists, and applicable objects of "negative list" management mode used in other countries, this thesis provides a reference for Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone in the sense of comparative law. At the same time, combined with the China-US bilateral investment treaty and "Guidance Catalogue of Industries for Foreign Investment", the feasibility and realistic practice of "negative list" are further analyzed.Finally, the flaws of the "negative list" mode of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and the content of the list are emphasized. Based on the domestic and foreign experience of "negative list", some advice on Shanghai’s exploration is proposed, and accordingly some policy suggestions on the proposal of "negative list 2015" are presented. |
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