China - Asean Free Trade Area Of ​​the Dispute Settlement Mechanism

With the accelerating establishing process of Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Region, China and NSEAN will become the third largest free trade region in the world in five years, only following EU and NAFTA. They will also become one of the most dynamic regions in world economy. A vital aspect of establishing Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Region is to set up a suite of sound dispute settlement mechanism. The agreement of Sino-ASEAN has been signed at the end of 2004, and it will come into force on January 1, 2005. For the continuous construction and development of Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Region, a mature and consummate dispute settlement mechanism is absolutely necessary. It can be seen that in the following years, trade contracts between China and ASEAN will become more and more frequent, and the volume of trade will soar up constantly, which will inevitably lead to the increase of trade frictions. In such a circumstance, a dispute settlement mechanism for Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Region will be initiated by the countries directly involved. Meanwhile, unexpected problems will be met in the functioning process and these problems are the main contents for academic studies at present.But, what kind of mechanism is it? Can it play a role in settling disputes among China and ASEAN members in the future? What characteristics does it have? What kind of systematical differences does it have with DSU? What kind of disadvantages? How to improve? All of them are the main concerns of this paper. Using a combined research method of legal philosophy theory, legal economics theory and comparing and analyzing theory, this paper expounds an overall and systematical study and analysis.I. It explains the Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Region dispute settlement mechanism from the aspects of historical background, legal foundation and legal origin.