Following the ratification of Canada’s Foreign Investment Protection Agreement with China, Hugh Stephens examines the controversy surrounding the Canadian agreement and explains how existing trade and investment treaties between China and the United States promote Canadian investment interests as well.

Making progress on a China-U.S. bilateral investment treaty is difficult. There are a variety of economic and political factors that could create setbacks, but both sides need to make a concerted effort to overcome these challenges because concluding an agreement would be in the interests of both parties and the world at large.

The road to a successful BIT will no doubt be full of political uncertainties and economic bargains in the foreseeable future, but mutual openness of market and investment is allowing a new field of cooperation between China and U.S., writes Qian Liwei.