Construction Of The Belt And Road Initiative International Investment Dispute Settlement Mechanism

Belt and Road is a cooperative and inclusive development model to promote common development and achieve common prosperity.Under this background,the effective settlement of international investment disputes is an important guarantee for the smooth implementation of “Belt and Road” initiative.At present,the imperfect international investment dispute settlement mechanism and the differences in the legal systems of the countries along the Belt and Road still restrict the trade development and investment cooperation in the implementation of the Belt and Road.Considering the special factors of the countries along the Belt and Road,including the differences in culture,economic structure,political development and legal system,these countries have not signed a comprehensive investment agreement with China.Moreover,some of these countries or regions are not members of the international trade dispute settlement system,such as the World Trade Organization(WTO)and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes(ICSID).In order to solve the above problems,this paper aims to explore the construction of a Belt and Road international investment dispute settlement mechanism.First,the article discusses the relationship between Belt and Road and existing international dispute settlement mechanisms.At the same time,the paper also analyzes China’s dispute settlement mechanism under existing bilateral investment agreements and free trade agreements.Secondly,the paper also explains some new developments and applicable rules of the international dispute settlement system in the context of Belt and Road,and divides these disputes into inter-State disputes,investor-State disputes and investor-investor disputes.Finally,the article also proposes that countries along the Belt and Road establish an appropriate dispute settlement mechanism,draw on the International Investment dispute settlement Center mechanism,use the Asian Investment Bank’s multilateral consultation mechanism,and cooperate with other countries to gradually explore innovative mechanisms for regional dispute resolution.