Toward a US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty

Lu Mai (China Development Research Foundation), Fang Jin (China Development Research Foundation), HAN Bing (Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), J. Bradford Jensen (PIIE), Sean Miner (PIIE), Jeffrey J. Schott (PIIE), WU Changqi (Guanghua School of Management, Peking University) and ZHANG Fan (National School of Development, Peking University)

The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) discussed the results of their parallel research projects "Toward a US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty" (BIT) on February 10, 2015. The United States and China are reaching the final stages of negotiations over an investment treaty, and with China's release of its negative list expected next month, an agreement could realign both nations towards a more common economic path beyond its impact on bilateral investment flows. LU Mai, CDRF's secretary general, provided remarks on the current status and future outlook of US-China economic relations, including what the prospects are for reaching BIT agreement this year and opportunities for further cooperation between the United States and China. The conference program includes:

The first panel, chaired by Adam Posen, addressed China's recent bilateral investment treaties, the US Model BIT, and competition policy in China including recommendations regarding China's antimonopoly law. The discussants were FANG Jin, deputy secretary general at CDRF; Jeffrey J. Schott, senior fellow at PIIE; Sean Miner, China program manager at PIIE; and WU Changqi, professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management.
LU Mai provided the luncheon remarks on US-China economic relations.
The second panel, chaired by Jeffrey J. Schott, focused on China's negative list, investment and trade in services, and the impact of a BIT on China's manufacturing sector. The panelists were HAN Bing, senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; J. Bradford Jensen, senior fellow at PIIE and professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business; and ZHANG Fan, professor at Peking University's National School of Development.