This book focuses on the Asia-Pacific region, delineating the evolving
dynamics of foreign investment in the region. It examines the
relationship between efforts to increase foreign direct investment (FDI)
and efforts to improve governance and inclusive growth and development.
Against a background of rapidly developing international investment law,
it emphasises the need to strike a balance between these domestic and
international legal frameworks, seeking to promote both foreign
investment and the laws and policies necessary to regulate investments
and investor conduct. Foreign investments play a pivotal role in most
countries' political economies, and in order to encourage cross-border
capital flows, countries have taken various steps, such as revising
their domestic legal frameworks, liberalising rules on inward and
outward investment, and creating special regimes that provide incentives
and protections for foreign investment. Alongside the developments in
domestic laws, countries have also taken bilateral and multilateral
action, including entering into trade and/or investment agreements.
Further, the book explores regional investment trends, highlights
specific features of Asia-Pacific investment laws and treaties, and
analyses policy implications. It addresses four overarching themes: the
trends (how Asia-Pacific's agreements compare with recent global trends
in the evolving rules on foreign investment); what China is doing;
current investment arbitration practice in Asia; and the importance of
regionalising investment law in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, it
identifies and discusses the research and policy gaps that should be
filled in order to promote more sustainable and responsible investment.
The book offers a valuable resource not only for academics and students,
but also for trade and investment officials, policy-makers, diplomats,
economists, lawyers, think tanks, and business leaders interested in the
governance and regulation of foreign investment, economic policy
reforms, and the development of new types of investment agreements.
