Progress made on China-U.S. investment treaty
March 31, 2014 Category Foreign investment, Weekly
China and the United States have achieved significant progress in negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty (BIT), senior advisers said. Pre-established national treatment and the “negative list” will be at the core of the BIT, according to Long Yongtu, Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia. “What’s left is detailed negotiations on the content and the items on the negative list,” he said. The 12th round of negotiations on the treaty was held in Washington DC in early March. Charlene Barshefsky, Senior International Partner of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and former top U.S. WTO negotiator, said that from the U.S. point of view, the top difficulties for the BIT talks include the negative list, performance requirements, technology transfers and IPR protection. On the Chinese side, the biggest issues are investment reviews and transparency. Barshefsky added that it will be very important for the U.S. to be totally transparent so that investors from China know what can be done easily and what is more difficult. “Often it’s just changing the structure or laying the groundwork with regulators. That makes all the difference with respect to whether the investment will be accepted or not”, she said. “The rate of growth of Chinese investment is very fast, but it is still small in relation to total investment in the U.S.,” she added. Last year, Chinese investment in the U.S. exceeded U.S. investment in China for the first time. “Chinese investment in the U.S. reached USD4.23 billion in 2013, exceeding U.S. investment in China of USD3.35 billion, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).
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