Formal or Informal? The Dispute Settlement Mechanisms of China's Free Trade Agreements

The dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) has long been the focus of attention because of its significant role in the institutional construction of China’s free trade agreements (FTAs). Thus, this paper is to make an analysis of the DSMs of China’s established FTAs from a legal perspective of international regime study, which leads to the finding of a co-existence mode of formal and informal DSMs in China’s FTAs. This paper also discusses the motivation and significance of such a choice.