The One Belt One Road Initiative and China’s lawyers: a work in progress

ABSTRACT

The “One Belt One Road” Initiative combines the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road. The hardware of this Initiative is most impressive, particularly in infrastructure construction. By examining the participation of China’s lawyers, we can come to understand the “software” which is vital to the success of this Initiative. We will examine eight points about China’s lawyers: 1. Young and Eastern; 2. “Going Global” Strategy; 3. Preparations; 4. Support Materials; 5. Recruitment of Foreign Lawyers; 6. Dispute Settlement and Arbitration; 7. The Chinese Communist Party; 8. Legal Culture and Ethics. This examination will be largely descriptive, as it is too early to analyse their successes and failures in the new environment. We are observing a work in progress.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Professor Roman Tomasic of the University of South Australia and Dr Gerard Groot of the University of Adelaide for their comments on drafts of this paper. Of course, the problems are all mine.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).