Common values lead the way on Belt and Road

Workers take a selfie at a locomotive delivery ceremony in Mombasa, Kenya. The eight China-made locomotives will be used on the Mombasa-Nairobi railway. [Photo/Xinhua]

Last year, upon the publishing of the book that he edited, with contributions from more than 40 legal experts from different countries, Wang's academy also held a forum in Hong Kong.

An official from the Supreme People's Court of China spoke at the forum and declared support from the central government to Hong Kong to become a regional dispute settlement center.

Wang argued that the now defunct TPP, although it did contain some words on disputes between investors and their host nations' governments, "was actually less perfect a dispute resolution model than it was branded".

None of the dispute resolution mechanisms available in the world today is perfect, he said. Most importantly, they are incomplete in terms of appeal, compensation, or mediation and reconciliation in cross-border investment disputes and rulings.

They have a lack of efficiency and accommodation of the digital technology, he added, "in such things as an online tribunal, for example".

Now with its new Belt and Road Initiative, China should work with its partners to develop a dispute resolution mechanism to better incorporate common law foundation and some "Eastern values" in practice, those about dispute mediation and reconciliation in particular, Wang stressed.

In the meantime, China and partners in its Belt and Road Initiative will be open to adopt the useful experience from other dispute resolution designs in the world.

Wang said he hoped to see an effort to build up a comprehensive, unified arbitration mechanism that works also well with the civil law system, which most Belt and Road nations are familiar with.

"Unlike trade disputes, which can be settled in a unified mechanism of the World Trade Organization, investment disputes are handled differently by different tribunals, even in similar cases," Wang said.

The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes is a product of the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes of 1965. It deals with disputes between states and nationals, especially corporate entities from other states. But it doesn't have an appeal system.

"Developing countries would need a court of appeal to ensure the fairness of the rulings," he said.