中美雙邊投資條約談判中的國家安全審查問題

The National Security Review Issue in the China-U. S. BIT Negotiations

對外資並購進行國家安全審查是國家行使主權的表現。但是，如果國家對外簽訂了投資條約，國家就承擔了保護外資的國際義務。國家安全審查主要是在外資准入階段採取的措施，可能違反投資條約中的國民待遇、最惠國待遇、公正公平待遇等原則，還可能構成間接徵收。投資條約中的根本安全例外條款未必能夠完全排除國家安全審查的不法性，為避免投資者將東道國就國家安全審查問題訴諸國際仲裁庭，一些投資條約規定爭端解決機制不適用於國家安全審查引起的爭議。中美雙邊投資條約是否要將國家安全審查問題排除出條約的適用範圍，取決於兩國的國家利益和政治意願。對中國而言，排除其適用也許更有利。

The national security review over the merger and acquisition by foreign investor is an exercise of state sovereignty. However, if the country concludes investment treaties with other countries, it is under an international obligation to protect foreign investment. National security review is a measure taken in the admission phase of foreign investment. The review could be a violation of national treatment, MFN treatment and fair and equitable treatment promised in the investment treaties. It could also constitute indirect expropriation. However, the provision on the protection of essential security interests in the investment treaty could not fully exclude the potential wrongfulness of the measure of national security review. To protect the host state from being sued to international arbitration by foreign investor, some investment treaties specifically exclude the disputes related to the review from the application of investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. Whether to exclude national security review from the future China-U. S. investment treaty depends on the national interests and political willing of the two countries. As far as China is concerned, it seems better to exclude it.