A Study on the Building of an Online Arbitration Mechanism for Settling Trade Disputes Along the Belt and Road

Abstract

As trade disputes along the Belt and Road keep increasing, how to properly address these disputes has become a focus in the Chinese legal community. At present, when it comes to the settlement of trade disputes along the Belt and Road, both traditional litigation and arbitration are faced with many legal and realistic challenges brought about by the complicated situations along the Belt and Road. Given this, building an online arbitration mechanism for settling trade disputes along the Belt and Road in the context of the Internet economy has been proposed. Traditional litigation is faced with a range of laws from different states, as well as the impact of huge differences in the national political systems, economic strengths and legal cultures regarding specific cases. An online arbitration mechanism may be capable of effectively mitigating the laws of the various states and the impact of the differences between them. Additionally, applying "virtual space" to arbitration is in line with the Internet economy’s intrinsic need for higher speed and efficiency. Building an online arbitration mechanism for settling trade disputes along the Belt and Road is also a crucial manifestation of diversifying dispute settlement mechanisms.

Keywords

• the belt and road initiative
• online arbitration
• center for dispute settlement