Chinese Investment Treaties in the Belt and Road Initiative Area

This article examines whether Chinese practice towards the making of investment treaties with developing countries in the Belt and Road Initiative region will be different from the treaties that it makes with developed States. Though there is a shift towards the making of hard treaties with the developed States of Europe, it is suggested that treaties made with developing States will be more nuanced. The article shows that there are political motives behind investment treaties, as the study of US practice shows. Political considerations will induce China to make different types of treaties with different types of treaty partners in the future. A comparison is made with recent Indian practice.