Abstract: With the successful advancement of the construction of the “Belt and Road”, the building of the “Belt and Road” rule of law system has also entered into a critical stage. Since the worldwide outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tension of geo-economics relations has been continuously intensified by geopolitics and the legal risks faced by “the Belt and Road” construction is becoming more and more complicated and showing high-degree particularity. China must carry out precise and carefully researches on these risks and put forward reasonable countermeasures, so as to promote the high-quality construction of the “Belt and Road” rule of law system. Apart from the traditional risks faced by international trade and investment, the special legal risks faced by the construction of the “Belt and Road” include those resulting from the lack of transparency in major cooperation projects, backward domestic trade and investment laws and the fragmentation of international trade rules, technical standards and the international investment and commercial disputes resolution systems of “Belt and Road” partners. At current stage, China should, in light of the above-mentioned legal risks and based on the principle of “achieving shared growth through consultation and collaboration”, closely cooperate with its “Belt and Road” partners in studying and developing new measures for preventing and defusing these risks, so as to lay a solid foundation for constructing the “Belt and Road” rule of law system.

The author of this article is a research fellow at and the head of International Economic Law Department of CASS Institute of International Law.

Source: 3 (2021) Global Law Review.