China’s newly revised Arbitration Law marks the most significant overhaul of the country’s commercial dispute framework since 1994
5-MIN READ5-MINYuanyue Dangin washingtonPublished: 11:45pm, 8 May 2026China’s international arbitration efforts have made significant progress, but more work is needed to attract foreign parties to arbitrate in China amid US-China rivalry, according to arbitrators and law scholars.China’s newly revised Arbitration Law took effect in March, marking the most significant overhaul of the country’s commercial dispute framework since 1994, in a move to promote cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to develop into international arbitration centres, competing with current global leaders like London and Singapore.But a harder question for Beijing is not the amount of energy or resources poured in, but whether foreign parties, particularly Western ones, will actually choose mainland China as a seat, according to arbitrators and legal scholars.
The bottleneck is not legal design but trust, they said.
“An international arbitration centre should be a place that everyone chooses as a base for arbitration, even if it has no connection to their country,” said Tao Jingzhou, an independent arbitrator at Arbitration Chambers and one of China’s earliest international arbitrators.
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Beijing and Manila trade blame over ‘provocative’ moves with ship collisions near disputed shoalBeijing’s drive to grow its arbitration capacity reflects more than a desire to attract a slice of a high-value professional services market.
