More and more foreign multinationals are now resorting to
arbitration in China to solve economic disputes with domestic
firms, rather than recourse to law.
Foreign-related cases made up 50 percent of the 174 received by the
Shanghai Commission of the China International Economic and Trade
Arbitration Commission last year.
Overseas applicants applying for arbitration came from more than 30
countries and regions, including the United States, Japan,
Singapore, Germany and Britain.
The remaining half handled by the Shanghai commission were economic
disputes involving China-based joint ventures and domestic
enterprise.
Of
those, 80 percent concerned disputes between joint ventures or
foreign investors with their Chinese partners, said Huang Wen,
arbitrator from the Court of Arbitration of the China Chamber of
International Commerce.
Arbitration reached according to international rules has helped
improve the investment environment of Shanghai and its neighboring
provinces, said Zhang Hengde, secretary-general of Shanghai Chamber
of Commerce.
There are three ways to solve disputes at the moment. Mediation is
not legally binding, and lawsuits are costly and open proceedings
take a long time. It is for those reasons that arbitration has
become a popular way of dealing with international disputes.
Arbitration costs less than a lawsuit, and what is more,
arbitration determined in China is accepted by the courts of 145
members of the New York Convention and can be implemented by
them.
(China Daily March 21, 2003)