Author: Xiaowen Qiu**
Published: October 2000
| Jurisdictions: China United States |
Topics: Categories of Disputes Investment Disputes Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements CIETAC |
Description: China’s decision to open itself to the outside world coincided with a dramatic increase in the globalization of the world economy. As a result of these circumstances, the question of whether contracts relating to investment in, or trade with, the People’s Republic of China are subject to arbitration has become a matter of considerable international interest. The People’s Republic of China abolished all laws from prior regimes when it was established in 1949. With the ensuing struggle over the direction the Chinese revolution should take, the introduction of new laws and stable courts was, for many years, very slow. Because formal legal systems had never played a large part in the way disputes were resolved in China, their absence was not particularly problematic to China. Even today, consistent with long-standing Chinese tradition, arbitration, mediation and negotiation are more culturally accepted methods of settling disputes in China than legal proceedings.
*Notes & Comments
**Associate, Davis, Polk & Wardwell, New York City. J.D., 2000 (Columbia University School of Law); L.L.M., 1992 and B.A., 1992 (People’s University of China). The author wishes to thank Professor Hans Smit of Columbia University School of Law for his guidance throughout the preparation of this article. The author also wishes to thank Tom Munno, Esq., managing partner of Dechert, Price and Rhoads, LLP (New York City) and Sebastien Besson, Esq., associate with the Geneva law firm Python Schifferli Peter & Partners, for their invaluable comments.