Introduction

Asian countries have been among the most active in concluding treaties for the promotion and protection of foreign investments ("ITs"), accounting for more than 1,000 of the over 2,600 bilateral investment treaties ("BITs") worldwide. Asian states have also entered into a number of free trade agreements ("FTA") containing an investment chapter, which are similar in content to a BIT. Two Asian states appear in the top ten of countries by number of BITs, China and Korea. A look at recent years shows that Asian countries have been expanding their IT network and show no sign of slowing down. ...