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This survey contains materials reflecting the Chinese practice of private international law in 2022. Firstly, the changes in the statutory framework of private international law in China include two legislative acts and one administrative regulation. Moreover, three international treaties in this regard were ratified by the National People's Congress. Secondly, three judicial interpretations of the Supreme People's Court ("SPC") were adopted or amended, and 56 typical cases in six judicial documents on different topics were issued by the SPC. Thirdly, four typical cases on Chinese courts' jurisdiction; 14 cases on choice of laws on various issues such as foreign investment contracts and negative lists, rights in rem , life insurance contracts and mandatory rules; one case on international judicial assistance rendered to an Argentinean court; three cases on interim measures; three cases on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; nine cases on international arbitration including international sports arbitration and foreign awards, are selected in this survey for their emerging significance. Fourthly, the provisions regarding the extraterritorial application of Chinese laws have been identified for the first time in this series of surveys, shedding light on this aspect of private international law in China. They include those contained in, inter alia , China's Anti-Monopoly Law, Anti-foreign Sanctions Law, Export Control Law, Securities Law, the Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures, as well as the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China the technique of natural gas volume flow measurement has already reached international advanced level and listed in legal metrology category now. But the energy measurement method is difficult to be roundly promoted and applied in China before natural gas calorific value item is listed in legal metrology. Therefore, it is a key point which should be roundly solved as soon as possible to construct a 0class calorimeter, the accuracy of which can meet the requirement of reference gas mixture (RGM) certification. If this kind of calorimeter had been constructed, even if we use imported RGM, we would not be subject to others and can really gain the right to speak in arbitration of international trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional socio-legal works showed that authoritarian regimes benefit from embracing international arbitration, obviating any foreign investor's distrust of non-independent and non-democratic courts. This article explores judicial cooperation by analysing the methods of dispute settlement adopted between China and the Arab Middle Eastern States involved in the BRI. After reviewing the background of China's legal involvement in the Middle East, China's involvement with various transnational dispute resolution institutions in the Middle East is discussed, and special consideration is given to legal disputes in Kuwait, UAE, and Egypt. Finally, this article argues that rule of law legitimacy, social and cultural inertia, and governance cost-effectiveness all influence the resulting transnational dispute settlement scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's approach to ISDS reform is widely perceived as undecided and ambiguous. This paper provides the first detailed analysis of China's submission to the UNITRAL Working Group III and situates China's approach in the context of global dialogue of ISDS reform and competing reform proposals. The paper shows that China's open, flexible, and evolving approach to ISDS reform could be better understood by a contextual evaluation of the pertinent factors which have contributed to its formation. Moreover, this paper explains why China did not sign up to the EU's investment court system (ICS) proposal in the EU‐China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). Lastly, the paper argues that China should reconsider its attitude towards the ICS in the CAI context and that the EU's recent suggestion that the envisaged multilateral investment court may adopt an 'open architecture' is likely to enhance its appeal to China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play a key role not only in China' domestic market, but also in implementing the Government of China (GOC)'s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Accordingly, Chinese SOEs have increasingly fallen back on investor-State investment arbitration to protect their investments in host States. A recurrent issue arising in arbitral proceedings concerns whether Chinese SOEs should be allowed access to investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms in view of the close links between Chinese SOEs and the GOC. This article sets forth two arguments. First, applying the relevant ILC Articles to Chinese SOEs, the article makes a legal argument that it is highly unlikely for a Chinese SOE to be denied standing as a qualified claimant in investor-State arbitration. Second, notwithstanding concerns about Chinese SOEs in the global investment landscape, the article makes a policy argument that the denial of Chinese SOEs' standing before arbitral tribunals is not only unhelpful in addressing those concerns, but also undermines the rule of law in international investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the South China Sea territorial disputes, China has shifted from a delaying strategy characterized by strategic ambiguity to strategic clarity and an increasingly assertive stance. Yet, this power play, asserting sovereignty over a large portion of the South China Sea, has not prompted a decisive push-back from regional states or major powers, raising the question of what kind of norms China will bring to the regional order and indicating the difficulty of building rules-based order in a region characterized by unbounded power politics in a twenty-first-century Hobbesian struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishments of international commercial courts reflect the closer alignment of commercial transactions and the development of dispute resolution mechanisms. To mainly facilitate the developments of the 'Belt and Road Initiative', China established the China international commercial court (CICC) in 2018. It marked a significant step in the development of China's judicial system. However, compared with other international commercial courts in the world, the construction of the CICC still has much room for improvement in the areas of jurisdiction, internationalization, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments. The China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) needs to consider how to refine the working procedures, enhance the internationalization, and promote the recognition and enforcement of the awards by the CICC. The SPC may need to update the current legal regime for the CICC based on the operation and the experience of trials. In addition to the efforts of the SPC to pave the way for developments, China needs to consider modifying the relevant rules and actively expand its judicial cooperation with other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the current discourses on China's diplomacy in the South China Sea disputes by asking: What does China want to achieve in the various negotiations? By comparing different versions of the multilateral Code of Conduct negotiations between 1992 and 2016, the authors find that the sovereignty issue has been shelved throughout the negotiations. We identify three factors that may account for this finding: the inconsistency of China's official claims over time, China's increased bargaining power, and the importance of the shelved sovereignty axiom since the era of Deng Xiaoping. The authors conclude that the normative game continues in the shadows of international norms represented by invalid sovereignty over the contested waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing arbitration autonomy and sovereignty supervision is the essential rhythm of international arbitration development. Influenced by the international trend of relaxing national judicial supervision, the Chinese judicial system, led by the Chinese Supreme People's Court (SPC), has promoted a series of judicial reforms to coordinate domestic arbitration and international practice. This article elaborates the SPC's recent reforms of the Chinese mechanisms of arbitration judicial supervision. The article first explores the international trend of the restraint of the national judicial supervision of arbitration. Then, the article introduces how such a trend impacts China's recent reforms of its arbitration judicial supervision. By focusing on the rules established by the SPC regarding the judicial review of both international and domestic arbitral awards, this article exposes the essential factors and corresponding solutions that hinder the efficiency of the judicial supervision of Chinese arbitration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Conflict is inevitable in public-private partnership (PPP) due to the long-term agreement and multiplicity of stakeholders with varying beliefs and interests. However, a thorough understanding of the root causes of conflict beforehand helps to minimize conflict occurrence, thereby ensuring a smooth PPP process. This paper aims to explore and evaluate the root causes of conflicts in PPPs through a comparative study between Ghana and China. Further, the most suitable conflict resolution mechanisms are explored from the Ghanaian and Chinese perspectives. Results show that causes of conflict ranked higher in Ghana directly relate to poor governance and contract arrangement, whereas causes related to poor risk management and communication are ranked higher in China. Further, arbitration and negotiation are the most suitable conflict resolution mechanisms for PPPs in Ghana and China respectively. The outputs of this study inform international private investors interested in PPPs in Africa and China of the possible sources of disputes and resolution mechanisms in PPPs. This will enable international investors to develop strategic measures before entering into the PPP markets of both regions. Highlights • Conflict is inevitable in public-private partnership arrangements • This paper explores the root causes of conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms in PPPs • Causes of conflicts related to poor governance and contractual arrangements emerged as critical in Ghana, whereas causes related poor risk management and communication emerged as critical in China • Arbitration and Negotiations are the most suitable resolution mechanisms for conflicts in PPPs in Ghana and China respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the South China Sea Arbitration, China resolutely decided to not appear, without even appointing its own arbitrator to an arbitration under Annex VII of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Many criticized this decision as unwise, and argued that the conventional litigation wisdom of contesting jurisdiction exclusively at the preliminary phase serves to better China's interests, since it would not prejudice its decision of nonappearance at the subsequent proceedings over merits. The validity of such a "wise" tactic rests upon bifurcation--the division of the proceedings into determination of jurisdiction and determination of merits. Bifurcation has been routinely practiced by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) but has not been used much in other forums of inter-state dispute settlement. The author undertakes the first investigation of 14 cases which eventually went to the UNCLOS arbitration (as of 2018). It finds that the majority of tribunals adopted ad hoc Rules of Procedures by which the tribunals retained discretion on the matter of bifurcation (discretionary bifurcation), and in practice the tribunal's flexibility terminates upon the rejection of the request to bifurcate. In contrast, Article 79 of the ICJ's Rules of Court, allows the Court to adjudicate on questions raised within a duly submitted preliminary objection, with no proceedings on the matter of bifurcation (rule-based bifurcation). This paper traces issues of bifurcation to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), to evaluate why and how in the ICJ bifurcation becomes a procedural right, finding that when rulebased bifurcation was added to the article governing preliminary objections in 1926, they believed jurisdictional objections deserved special treatment in the Rules of Court, allowing the Court to better handle jurisdiction of inter-state disputes which was confined by the consent of the parties. The subsequent revisions of the Rules of Court in 1936, 1946, 1972, 1978, and 2001 gradually but solidly provide that a party is entitled to bifurcation, notwithstanding a general belief that bifurcation reduces the Court's efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented which discusses the legitimacy of nonparticipation of concerned states in international arbitration proceedings. Topics explored include the perceptions of legitimacy according to Thomas Franck's book "The Power of Legitimacy Among Nations," the practice of third-party settlements in state-to-state arbitration, and brief details about the South China Sea arbitration case between China and the Philippines.

In this issue, we present 20 court cases of private citizens suing the government in China from 2013 to 2019, selected from 662 published administrative law cases since 2003. But it should be mentioned that the court also ruled in four cases that the government-defendant erred in carrying out their duties, and granted some, but not all the plaintiffs' requests (I-3, I-6, II-5, II-10). A Case Summary To illustrate the litigation process, related statutes, legal strategies of the plaintiffs and defendants, as well as the adjudicative reasoning by the courts and the judicial outcomes, we summarize the first of the 20 cases below. [Extracted from the article]

Over the past two years, China's treatment of labor advocates was full of conflicting norms: Though the Party remained hostile toward labor organizing directed at domestic employers, certain conditions caused state officials to hesitate in violently cracking down on labor organizing directed at Western companies. Against this backdrop, groups like the Walmart Chinese Workers' Association (WCWA) were leading successful campaigns to fight worker exploitation through organizing and legal remedies. In order to fund litigation against Walmart, the WCWA received litigation funding from nonprofit groups like the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin (CLB). However, in January 2017, China passed a new Foreign Non-Governmental Organization Law (FNGO), which requires both foreign and Hong Kong nonprofits, like CLB, to register and submit themselves to greater government control in order to continue working in China. As a result, labor nonprofits like CLB are no longer able to fund litigation for groups like the WCWA. This Note proposes one way that Chinese labor organizations and NGOs could address the funding issues caused by the FNGO Law. Part I will discuss the state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), explain the role it plays in the larger Communist Party agenda, and discuss the conditions in China that have created an opportunity for labor groups like the WCWA to form. Part II will discuss how the WCWA had been using strategic litigation prior to the FNGO Law, as well as how the FNGO Law affected the WCWA's use of strategic litigation. Finally, Part III will suggest third-party litigation funding as a potential solution to this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many international legal experts believe that thePhilippinesv.Chinaarbitration award of 12 July 2016 represents a game changer for South China Sea dispute settlements because the award has brought a breathtaking legal clarity to the complex disputes. This article argues that the sweeping nature of the award had a very paradoxical effect on Chinese policy. The arbitration ruling has led to the hardening of China’s claims, but it has also raised a new readiness among Chinese policymakers to renew negotiations. The sweepingness of the award makes it hard for the Philippines to reach a negotiated compromise with China on the basis of the award, but it also presents a surprising political opportunity in regional politics for the major actors involved to lower tensions and recalibrate policies. Although China’s new readiness to negotiate is welcome, the overall impact of the three-and-a-half-year-long arbitration is likely to create a deadlock in negotiations in the near future. Paradoxically, this may raise the importance of political and power-centred approaches to regional dispute settlements, as the legal approach embodied by arbitration continues to meet Chinese defiance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores allegations over China's economic aggression in its territorial disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam over South China Sea as of January 2017. Topics include an panel's ruling in favor of the Philippines against China over territorial disputes, China's protests of the ruling, and countries' concern that China will manipulate its economic power to advance its political and strategic interests. Also discussed are the factors that would affect China's foreign policy, China's alleged sanctions against the Philippines after the Scarborough Shoal incident, and China's dispute with Vietnam over HD-981 oil rig deployment in 2014.

This survey is composed of materials reflecting the practice of private international law in China in 2015. First, this survey covers the reports of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) released in 2016, notably the Report on the Work of the SPC in 2015, which contains the statistics of the foreign-related civil or commercial cases accepted and concluded by Chinese courts. Second, the survey covers laws and judicial interpretations that were revised or took effect in 2015. The important legal instruments include: the Interpretations of the SPC on the Application of the Civil Procedure Law of the PRC, the Provisions of the SPC on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law to the Arrest and Auction of Ships, and the Reply of the SPC to the Request for Instruction by the Shanghai High People's Court and Others on Issues Concerning Cases of Judicial Review of Arbitral Awards Rendered by the CIETAC and its Former Sub-Commissions. Third, this survey particularly focuses on typical cases decided by various Chinese courts during 2015 in the following areas: classification and definition of foreign elements, jurisdiction (exclusive choice of court agreements), choice of law (international air transport contracts, transfer of share agreements, foreign-related employment contracts), recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, jurisdiction of the CIETAC and its former sub-commissions, validity of arbitration agreement, recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, and ad hoc arbitration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reprint of the document "China Adheres to the Position of Settling Through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes Between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea," which appeared on the official Website of the Foreign Ministry of China on July 13, 2016, is presented. Topics discussed include the territorial sovereignty of China over Nanhai Zhudao, the dispute between China and the Philippines over maritime delimitation, and China's policy on the South China Sea issue.

The South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China can be viewed as a mixed dispute that involves both territorial and maritime issues. In this regard, an issue arises concerning whether an Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can adjudicate a mixed dispute. The Philippines/China arbitral award of 29 October 2015, along with the 2015 Mauritius/United Kingdom arbitration, sheds some light on this issue. Furthermore, with regard to Article 281 of the Convention, the Tribunal in the Philippines/China arbitration adopted an interpretation that is different from the interpretation adopted by the Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal in the 2000 Southern Bluefin Tuna arbitration. The Philippines/China arbitral award provides important insight into the interpretation of Article 281. In addition, the Tribunal's treatment of China's informal communications merits particular attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China claims "historic rights" over the islands and other maritime features in the South China Sea. The Philippines contests these claims on the ground that they are incompatible with the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. It initiated arbitration under Annex VII of the (UNCLOS) for a declaratory judgment to that effect. China rejected the arbitral procedure in part because of its 2006 Declaration which excludes all such disputes from the compulsory dispute settlement procedure of the Convention. This paper examines the recent award of the Arbitral Tribunal accepting jurisdiction over the some of the submissions made by the Philippines. It finds that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea has very little to offer to decide on issues of sovereignty and associated issues of overlapping maritime entitlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multilateral territorial dispute over the South China Sea has intensified in recent years. In response, some observers endorse the apparent turn to " lawfare" on display in the ongoing Philippines v. China arbitration, conducted under Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Yet the limited subject matter of this arbitration means that it can contribute only modestly to any ultimate resolution between claimants. Indeed, the Chinese side has argued against tribunal jurisdiction precisely on the basis of the primacy of questions over territorial sovereignty--which are barred from UNCLOS proceedings--to the determination of all other legal issues being contested between the parties. This Article assesses the merits of these and other major objections to the UNCLOS arbitration and proposes a supplemental legal mechanism: an international Commission of Inquiry (COI) by involved states, addressing French, Japanese, and other extra-regional states' now inactive claims regarding the sovereign status of the region' s various island territories through the end of World War II hostilities in 1945. Such a COI would acknowledge, as the UNCLOS arbitration does not, the centrality of the legal issue of territorial sovereignty to the dispute. Yet by limiting its findings to the islands' contested status during the period of European and Japanese colonialism in Asia, rather than determining current ownership, a COI could nonetheless avoid exacerbating tensions or alienating claimants. Most importantly, such an approach could serve to establish a narrowed, but still ample, range of possible legal claims and outcomes for further adjudication. Claims based on "discovery" and " conquest" could at least potentially be ruled out, leaving only " cession" -based arguments (the implications of which are considerably less divisive, as they are premised on mutual recognition between equal states). A COI would also be based upon and contribute to a regional " epistemic community" of juridical expertise, furthering transnational civil society ties between claimant states. Finally, the positivistic discourse based on the principle of legal equality pursued by a COI as here proposed could, potentially, more generally dissuade unilateral behavior by individual states, while promoting mutual recognition and cooperative arrangements among regional actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to assess the preferences of parties to Asian international business transactions when they choose the law governing their contracts. To that end, I conducted an empirical analysis of unpublished data of the four main arbitral institutions active in Asia (outside Mainland China) for the years 2011 and 2012. I found that three laws dominate the Asian market for international contracts: English law, U.S. law, and, to a lesser extent, Singapore law. This article makes three contributions. First, it documents the regional variations in parties' preferences: the laws which are successful in Asia are different from those in Europe. Second, it shows that, while English and U.S. laws might govern an equivalent number of transactions, they are chosen in very different circumstances. U.S. laws are typically chosen in transactions between a U.S. and an Asian party where the parties also agree to settle their dispute in the United States under the aegis of the international division of the American Arbitration Association. These are thus transactions where the bargaining power of the U.S. party was strong and enabled that party to impose choice of a U.S. dispute resolution institution and of a U.S. law. By contrast, English law is chosen in transactions between parties of all nationalities, in the context of arbitration under the aegis of almost all institutions, in proceedings with their seat anywhere in Asia. English law appears to be the only law to be considered as attractive to international commercial parties operating in Asia and seeking an option other than the laws of the party's home country. Finally, this article seeks to explain the remarkable attractiveness of English law in Asia. It explores whether certain substantive rules of English law might be especially appealing to international commercial parties, and whether the fact that many Asian jurisdictions are former English colonies might play a role. It concludes that the most convincing reasons are the wide presence of Commonwealth educated lawyers in Asia and concern about the American way of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief papercomments on the clinical isolation and one-sided tendencies in the Philippines' oral arguments in the South China Sea arbitration, with illustrations fromits arguments on (1) negotiation as the agreed exclusive choice for dispute settlement, (2) sovereignty matters, (3) the optional exception of delimitation-related disputes; (4) the optional exception of military activities disputes; and (5) environmental claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the arbitration law of the People's Republic of China; mentions the approaches of China Supreme People's Court on the enforcement of awards in international arbitration; and reports the PRC's bad reputation for enforcing awards.

This survey covers materials reflecting the practice of private international law in China in 2013. The survey covers laws, administrative regulations and judicial interpretations that were revised or took effect in 2013. The important specific legal instruments that were affected in 2013 include: the Civil Procedure Law; Trademark Law; Company Law; Regulations of the PRC on the Administration of Foreign-Funded Insurance Companies; Regulations of the PRC on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners; Reply of the SPC on Whether Maritime Courts May Apply the Small Claims Procedure; Provisions of the SPC on Handling Judicial Assistance Requests for the Service of Judicial Documents, Taking of Evidence in Civil or Commercial Matters in Accordance with International Conventions and Bilateral Treaties on Judicial Assistance; Implementation Rules on "The Provisions of the SPC on Handling Judicial Assistance Requests for the Service of Judicial Documents, Taking of Evidence in Civil or Commercial Matters in Accordance with International Conventions and Bilateral Treaties on Judicial Assistance" (for Trial Implementation); Interpretation (I) of the SPC on Certain Issues Concerning the Application of the "Law of the PRC on Application of Law to Foreign-Related Civil Relations". This survey also covers cases decided in 2013 in the following areas: proof of foreign law; jurisdiction (exclusive jurisdiction; choice of court agreements; distrainable property, maritime jurisdiction); choice of law (conflicts in current Chinese laws and their solutions, sale contracts, loan and guaranty contracts, equity transfer contracts, export credit insurance contracts, arbitration agreements, employment, maritime matters and intellectual property); foreign judgments; arbitration and foreign awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U-shaped line in the South China Sea has been recently challenged in the international community and this challenge reached its climax when the Philippines presented China with a Notification and Statement of Claim under Article 287 and Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Lawof the Sea (LOSConvention) on 22 January 2013. In its Statement of Claim, the Philippines requests the Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal to adjudge and declare that China's maritime claims based on the U-shaped line are contrary to the LOS Convention and invalid. Against this background, this article will analyze the issues concerning the related submissions of the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although China has been an active 'treaty-maker' in the realm of international investment arbitration as evidenced by its more than 120 bilateral investment treaties, the utility of these BITs has been very limited. Substantive standards such as expropriation and compensation have never been comprehensively tested with respect to these BITs. This article scrutinizes the concept of expropriation by reference to Chinese investment treaty jurisprudence, in particular, the final award of Tza Yap Shum v. The Republic of Peru and China's free trade agreement with Peru, the only Chinese BIT-related ICSID case. This article critically examines, in a comparative context, the treaty interpretation methodologies employed by the tribunal in interpreting expropriation under the China-Peru BIT, which is one of the earlier Chinese BITs. A thorough study of this subject is of great significance to interpreting the terms of indirect expropriation and compensation in Chinese BITs, thereby offering more concrete foreign investment protections based on investment treaties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reprint of the document "Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on the Award of 12 July 2016 of the Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration Established at the Request of the Republic of Philippines," which appeared on the Website of the Foreign MInistry of China on July 12, 2016, is presented. Topics discussed include events leading to the awarding to the arbitration, and the reasons for the non-acceptance and non-recognition by China.

This article is prompted by a Chinese criminal provision governing the impartiality of arbitration. The goals of the article are to critically examine the criminal statute created by the provision and to put forward some proposals for reform, which can be employed to resolve the tension that exists between arbitrator impartiality and deference to arbitration. Although the provision appears to eliminate the abuse of arbitral power, it may raise more questions than it resolves. This article explores the problems and undertakes a comparative analysis of the corresponding United States provision as well as an analysis of some cultural and traditional elements influencing the criminal statute in China. Ultimately, this article argues that the concerns can be addressed by fine-tuning the rule in order to keep a balance between the previous two conflicting values. Borrowing from U.S. experience, this article proposes a mechanism of judicial interpretation. When contemplating the judicial interpretation, four aspects need to be taken into consideration: private prosecution, criminal liability for the neutral arbitrator, civil liability, and a detailed definition of the criminal provision. Considering these aspects of judicial interpretation will ensure that China can retain the benefits of arbitration without sacrificing impartiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from 2004, China's trading partners, in particular the United States, have increasingly utilized the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system (DSS) to challenge China's trade-related measures. As a major player in world trade, how China responds to adverse rulings is not only important to its trading partners, but also for the future of the international trade regime. China has thus far held a relatively good compliance record when facing adverse panel and/or Appellate Body rulings, except for the recent delay in full compliance in China—Publications and Audiovisual Products. Through examining the factors affecting China's decision making when targeted in a WTO dispute, this article finds that, in general, China is highly motivated to comply with the WTO DSS due to the reputational costs of noncompliance. Nevertheless, the recent delay in compliance in China—Publications and Audiovisual Products also demonstrates that successful implementation could be impeded by certain politically influential interest groups, especially when the measure at dispute is politically sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2013 the Philippines invoked the dispute settlement system under UNCLOS in order to resolve its long-standing dispute with the People's Republic of China over the South China Sea and more specifically concerning Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands. The arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII UNCLOS, without the PRC taking part in the proceedings as of yet, faces a challenging task in deciding whether or not it has jurisdiction over the case submitted by the Philippines. This article therefore examines the dispute settlement system of UNCLOS with regard to the jurisdiction of the tribunal in the pending Philippines - PRC South China Sea dispute. While at first glance UNCLOS appears to provide for a comprehensive system of compulsory jurisdiction, a number of exceptions, either applicable ipso facto or by virtue of unilateral declarations made at the time of signature or ratification of UNCLOS, leave only a thin layer of jurisdictional grounds, if any at all, for the arbitral tribunal to deal with and eventually decide the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and the PRC. This implies that the arbitral tribunal is facing intriguing legal questions in this highly political procedure, the relevance of which extends far beyond the case at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how arbitration, as a semi-formal dispute resolution institution, gradually took root in China and how it interacted with the Chinese non-confrontational legal tradition. Based on the experience of arbitration transplantation in China, the article argues that local culture and traditions still have a strong role to play in the process of legal globalization. On the one hand, global scripts are localized when domestic actors translate and conceptualize the borrowed concepts in accordance with local norms--'localized globalism'; on the other hand, local ideas, practices and institutions may be globalized when they are projected to the global arena--'globalized localism.' The author argues that the development of transnational arbitration will be a process of 'glocalization,' which reflects the combined impact of the globalization of both law and local culture and traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With 134 million active stock accounts and approximately two decades of history, the Chinese securities markets are still fairly young. In 2010, the Chinese securities markets had 2,171 listed companies with domestic IPOs, a total market value of approximately $4.2 trillion dollars and a total value of approximately $8.6 trillion dollars in completed transactions. With an exponentially growing number of securities transactions taking place on the Chinese stock exchanges, more listed companies have been investigated and penalized for securities misconduct. But given the nascent nature of the Chinese civil legal system in providing monetary compensation to injured public investors, this article discusses using arbitration as an alternative method to resolve securities violations and suggests that the American FINRA arbitration process can serve as a model to improve the Chinese arbitration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has shunned participation in international adjudication, preferring to settle all disputes through direct negotiations. But in the past two decades, this wholly negative approach to international courts and arbitration tribunals has begun to shift. In addition to the PRC's acceptance and active participation in the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization, the PRC has also accepted limited jurisdiction for arbitration under the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Despite this shift, the PRC still follows a policy of strictly limiting its exposure to international adjudicatory mechanisms. This strategy, which is similar to that practiced by the United States, suggests that international adjudication faces difficult prospects in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the perspective of the U.S. on the international arbitration and Colombia regarding the comparative, commercial and constitutional concerns. It discusses the regulation of the international trade regimes of the Latin American countries and also discusses the commercial potential of the country by comparing it to the export market of China. Information on the ranking of Colombia by the World Bank with reference to its economy is also presented.

For many contemporary historians, the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk was not only the first diplomatic treaty between China and a European power, but also an example of a peaceful boundary settlement, which ended the protracted conflict between the two expanding empires. Yet despite modern emphasis on territorial demarcation, clarity of border signs hardly dominated this seventeenth century conflict in the Far East. In fact, careful examination of the published Russian archival record of Muscovite-Qing diplomatic correspondence reveals that competition for tributary allegiances of indigenous and settler populations proved to be a much greater source of tension between the two empires. Ultimately, the mercurial loyalties of local Tungus and Mongol tribes as well the cross-nation desertions of Cossacks, military commanders and Ming loyalists drove both Qing and Muscovite officials to stabilize their shared frontiers through negotiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the development of binational clinical programs and collaborations designed to create an international lawyer who can solve and address the exploitation of migrants. It states that emerging law school programs from the U.S. and China are directed to address the human rights violations faced by migrants. It adds that it is apparent for law schools to advance innovative responses to the problems of human migration.

The article discusses the extraterritorial jurisprudence of the U.S. Court for China. It describes the law applied by the court which consisted of a mélange of colonial common law. It also highlights the place of the court and its practice of extraterritorial jurisdiction within a longer global genealogy. The conflicts of law faced by the U.S. Court for China which proved difficult to resolve precisely is addressed. Furthermore, it focuses on some of the conflicts-of-law problems the court had to face.