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National Security as a Sword for Expropriation: The UK-China BIT on the Brink

August 5, 2026

Yin Wei

The UK government nationalised British Steel on 16 July 2026. The nationalisation was carried out under the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Act 2026. Jingye Group, a Chinese enterprise, had acquired the company in 2020 with a pledged investment of £1.2 billion. Jingye has now initiated consultation procedures under the UK-China Bilateral Investment Treaty of 1986 (the BIT) and also reserved its right to seek full compensation. Should the dispute proceed to arbitration, a tribunal would first need to address a threshold jurisdictional issue. Under Article 7(1) of the BIT, arbitration is limited to disputes ‘concerning an amount of compensation’. Can an arbitral tribunal review whether the taking itself complied with the treaty’s substantive requirements? The textual limitation will inevitably generate an interpretive dispute. A narrow reading would effectively insulate the entire merits of the UK’s national security rationale from international adjudication. A broad reading, by contrast, would permit scrutiny of the taking’s lawfulness. This procedural gateway, rather than any substantive defence, places the protective function of…

Trade with the Settlements: How EU Law Points the Way Out of the Deadlock

August 4, 2026

Nicolas Angelet

The International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of 2024 on Legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Terrritory, including East Jerusalem has prompted many scholarly comments on third states’ obligations to react to violations of international law by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) (notably here and…

Two Weeks in Review: 13—24 July 2026

July 26, 2026

Sebastian von Massow

The last fortnight has seen commentators focus primarily on conflict, climate, and immigration. A mini-symposium has ranged over a number of legal questions raised by a potential Russia-Ukraine peace treaty: from VCLT rules on treaty validity and security guarantees, to free economic zones and the question of the reconstruction of Ukraine through seized assets of the Russian Central…

Can China Lead the Way in Constraining Economic Coercion? Sanctions, Chokepoints, and the Perils of Convergence

July 22, 2026

Ryan Mitchell

Economic coercion remains ill-defined in international law, but its importance is growing ever more evident by the day. At various points, for example, a negotiated settlement to the US-Iran War has reportedly been blocked in key part by disagreements over $24 billion in assets frozen by the US Office of…

Who Pays for Aggression? Ukraine’s Reparation Claims and Russian Frozen Assets

July 17, 2026

Iryna Bogdanova

As Russia’s war against Ukraine rages, inflicting suffering on the country, its people, and economy, the Russian Central Bank (RCB) assets remain immobilised (i.e., frozen). Since December 2025, the EU, on whose territory a significant chunk of these assets has been immobilised, – €210 bn worth of assets out of approximately €290 bn – modified the legal…

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On 1 October 2018, the International Court of Justice issued its Judgment on the Merits in Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile), finding, by 12 votes to 3, that Chile "did not undertake a legal obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean" for Bolivia and rejecting all other submissions of Bolivia. While…

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There is an inter-State arbitration pending between Ecuador and the United States under the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between those two countries (Treaty between United States of America and the Republic of Ecuador Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investment, 27 August 1993). The Ecuador v. US case , which was initiated in June 2011, is, as far as…