Defence date: 15 June 2017Examining Board: Professor Petros C. Mavroidis, European University Institute (EUI Supervisor); Professor Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, European University Institute; Professor Robert Howse, New York University; Professor Panagiotis Delimatsis, Tilburg UniversitySince deeper 'open-door' domestic reform in 1992, China has consistently maintained its position as the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient among developing countries. In recent years China is going global as well. Accompanied with a large amount of outbound FDI, the level of debt is also increasing. Thus it is necessary for China to adopt a sustainable development policy and behave based on rules. China needs to work with the world to promote a rules-based investment climate. At a multilateral level, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 and promised general and specific obligations on market entry and non-discrimination principles. Bilaterally, only after 2001, China has started negotiating preferential trade agreements (PTAs). The first part of the thesis analyses China’s legal obligations in investment agreements in pre- and post-WTO entry phases. Chapter 1 introduces China’s investment policy before 2001. Chapter 2 clarifies China’s commitments on non-discrimination principles under the WTO agreements, especially China’s Protocol of Accession. Chapter 3 compares Chinese BITs and PTAs with regard to investment principles. The second part of the thesis concerns interpretation on substantive and procedural provisions. Chapter 4 tries to answer the question of whether and how do tribunals consider jurisprudential concepts developed in the case law of the trade regime when resolving investment cases. Chapter 5 examines different remedies in trade and investment agreements. It is important for China to keep compliance with its commitments in international agreements, otherwise, it would face countermeasures which are highly costly. Also, China can implement competition rules in its domestic market for improving firms’ efficiency. Meanwhile, a balancing approach which emphasizes corporate social responsibility is equally important for China’s companies going global