New Frontiers in Asia-Pacific International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution - Book Review
Published 1 July 2022
Introduction
Edited by Professor Luke Nottage, Professor Shahla Ali, Dr. Bruno Jetin and Dr. Nobumichi Teramura, the book examines significant 'new frontiers' for Asia-Pacific international business dispute resolution by focusing on major economies in East and South Asia which have a close economic and geographical link. The principle questions addressed are: (a) whether the attractiveness of the existing and new venues for international commercial arbitration could be improved through law reform, case law development, and other measures despite worries about cost and delay; (b) whether emerging concerns about investment treaty commitments backed by investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) would prompt Asian States to become rule-makers in international investment law, rather than mere rule-takers; and (c) whether international dispute settlement can be developed in the Asia-Pacific region through innovations in existing and new fields.
In the fourteen chapters of the book, the discussion focuses on developments in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, China (including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)), India, Malaysia and Singapore. The fifteenth chapter, which is the concluding chapter, highlights key findings in the individual chapters along with identifying several challenges for the post-COVID-19 era. The value of this exciting book lies in its challenges to existing procedures and frameworks for cross-border dispute resolution, both in commercial and treaty-based (investor-State) arbitration, rather than being simply descriptive of the existing mechanisms.