国际投资新规则及中国应对策略

New International Investment Rules and China’s Strategic Response

国际投资规则的演进大体可分为初立期、拓展期、调整与深化期三个阶段。在规则初立期,以国际投资逐步增加为背景,形成了国际投资规则的基本框架;在规则拓展期,由“新自由主义”推动,投资规则以促进投资自由化为重点,着力开拓投资市场空间;在规则调整与深化期,重点是推出新的规则,进一步规范投资和投资管理行为。国际投资新规则的主要特征,一是更加严格规范投资保护与东道国的监管行为,二是优先对新领域的投资制定规则,三是争端解决机制多元化,四是投资和贸易相互融合,综合贸易协定中包含投资条款或投资协定中包含贸易条款,五是投资规则呈现复杂化、差异化及碎片化特征。中国既是投资引进大国也是对外投资大国,今后更应积极参与和推动新规则的制定工作。当前,在中美贸易摩擦升温背景下,亟须确立新规则来稳定国际经济贸易秩序。中国应加快与他国谈判进程,尽快签署更多国际投资协定。以此改善外部投资环境,同时推动中美贸易谈判达成共识,促使双方经贸关系重回正轨,保障国际投资活动有序开展,避免贸易摩擦对全球经济造成不利影响。此外,需积极推动新的谈判成果作为国际投资新规则的范例,为新规则制定提供方向性指引。

The evolution of international investment rules proceeds in three phases. In the first phase, a basic, broad framework is erected to regulate increasing international investments. In the second phase of expansion, neoliberalist rules, norms, and regulations facilitate unfettered flows of transnational investment and expand a worldwide capital market. The third phase of adjustment and in-depth development puts in place new rules and regulations to oversee activities related to investment and management. New international investment rules include the following main features: higher investment protection and tighter host-state regulations;rules established for new investment areas;diverse dispute settlement mechanisms;growing investment-trade nexus;and an increasingly complex, diversified, and fragmented regulatory regime. As both a growing investor and a major destination of international investment, China must be an active participant in the rule-making process regarding investment rules. As the China-U.S. trade dispute escalates, there is an urgent need to establish new rules to stabilize the international economic and trade order. In this context, China needs to accelerate the negotiating process with other major economies and reach at an early date international investment treaties with a view to improving the global investment market and mitigating the adverse impact of the current trade dispute. In addition, new bilateral investment treaties and agreements could serve as templates in the global investment rule-making process.