Never Fear to Negotiate: Options for Non-Adversarial Dispute Resolution in the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

The current tumultuous time in foreign relations has furthered the need for a reflection on the role of non-adversarial dispute resolution mechanisms in recent treaties, especially those that bind major economic powers such as the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). This chapter analyses Arts. 3, 4 and 5 of Section V of CAI, which puts in place the system of non-adversarial dispute resolution. It finds that they are in line with the consistent efforts of the EU and China to incorporate processes of mediation and conciliation to resolve legal differences. After finding that non-adversarial dispute resolution mechanisms offer traditional advantages, that their weaknesses have been overcome in recent developments and that favourable jurisprudence has also emerged, the chapter concludes there are genuine prospects for the growth of non-adversarial dispute resolution in the China-EU context. This is enhanced by institutional moves encouraging mediations and consultations, other instances of the use of such processes in international disputes, and the traditional Chinese cultural preference for non-adversarial conflict handling.