International Investment Agreements and Investor-State Arbitration in Asia

States across Asia have long engaged in international investment treaty making, and to a lesser extent in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) proceedings. Engagement has intensified partly as bilateral investment treaties (BITs) proliferated especially from the 1990s, but also Asian states started to conclude more comprehensive bilateral and then regional free trade agreements (FTAs), including within and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Some nations have been more cautious historically, and recent experiences with ISDS claims have led Indonesia and especially India to terminate many old BITs and press out in new directions. This paper details Asia’s trajectory towards becoming more of a “law maker” by focusing on multilateral initiatives (through soft and hard law), ASEAN and its key member states, China and the “Belt and Road” initiative, India, Japan and Korea, Australia and New Zealand.