Space Dispute Settlement in Asia in the Context of the Belt & Road Initiative: An Appraisal from China’s Perspective

Conducting a space cooperation program in the context of the Belt & Road (B & R) initiative provides China opportunities to further extend the scale of space cooperation in Asia and break through the current predicament of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO). A more comprehensive mechanism to address the potential state-to-state and commercial space disputes is essential. To efficiently avoid and resolve disputes among the Member States, APSCO needs to improve the 'fair return' principle and the dispute settlement arrangement contained in its Convention. As to conflicts between APSCO and the non-Member States, dispute settlement clauses are obliged to be reached between APSCO and China. For commercial disputes, China should establish a specialized arbitration branch as a constituent of the B & R comprehensive dispute settlement mechanism. Disputes arising in space infrastructure investments need to be treated separately. For this reason, a special branch for settling investor-state disputes should be created under the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as advocated in this article.