Fragrant Harbour and Oyster Mirror

This chapter discusses the controversy in Sanum v Lao wherein a Macanese investor sought Beijing’s treaty protection before an investment arbitration tribunal. The chapter discusses, more widely, Beijing’s regime governing the application of Chinese treaties to Macao and Hong Kong, and it discusses the Sanum affair’s broader lessons for the application and interpretation of investment treaties in the face of a bespoke devolution treaty. Finally, it discusses how two tribunals and the Singapore courts have persistently failed to recognize a requirement under two devolution agreements—the Sino–Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Sino—British Joint Declaration-for the consultation of Macao and Hong Kong as a precondition to the application of a Chinese treaty to these special administrative regions. The chapter describes how both the tribunal and the Singapore Court of Appeal forced, instead, a treaty succession solution given by the moving treaty frontiers rule.