The Government of the Republic of China and the Government of t-
he Republic of Liberia, hereinafter the ”Parties”;
Desiring to create favorable conditions for greater economic co-
operation and investments on the basis of principles of equality
and mutual benefit; and

Recognizing that the promotion and reciprocal protection of such
investments will be conducive to the stimulation of individual
business initiative and will increase prosperity in both States;

Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1
Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement:
(a) ”investment”means every kind of asset and in particular,
though not exclusively, includes:
(i) movable and immovable property as well as other such prop-
erty rights.
(ii) shares in and stock and debentures of a company and any o-
ther form of interest in a company;
(iii) claims to money, or to any performance under contract hav-
ing an economic value;
(iv) intellectual property rights, including without limitation
the rights relating to trademark, patent, new design pate-
nt, copyright, trade secret, integrated circuit layout pr-
otection, and all other rights resulting from intellectual
activities in the industrial, scientific, literary or art-
istic fields and tradenames and goodwill, in accordance w-
ith each Party's laws and regulations;
(v) rights or permits conferred by law or under contract, inc-
luding concessions to search for, cultivate, extract or e-
xploit natural resources;
The said term ”investment”shall refer to those investme-
nts admitted in the territories of the Parties in accorda-
nce with relevant laws, regulations and administrative pr-
actices. Any change in the form in which assets are inves-
ted does not affect their character as investments.
(b) ”returns”means the amounts yielded by an investment and in
particular, though not exclusively, includes profit, intere-
st, capital gains, dividends, royalties and fees;
(c) ”investor”means any natural person who is a national of e-
ither Party or a juristic person such as a corporation, firm
or associations incorporated or established under the law in
force of either Party.
(d) ”territory”means
(i) For the Republic of China: The territory, including the t-
erritorial sea and any maritime area situated beyond the
territorial sea, over which the Republic of China may exe-
rcise sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance with
relevant international and domestic laws.
(ii) For the Republic of Liberia: The territory, including the
territorial sea and any maritime area situated beyond the
territorial sea, over which the Republic of Liberia may e-
xercise sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance wi-
th relevant international and domestic laws.

ARTICLE 2
Promotion and Admission of Investments
(1) Each Party shall, subject to its laws and regulations in the
field of foreign investment, encourage investments in its t-
erritory by investors of the other Party, and, subject to i-
ts right to exercise powers conferred by its laws, shall ad-
mit such investment.
(2) Each Party shall grant, in accordance with its laws and reg-
ulations, the necessary permits in connection with such inv-
estments and with the implementation of licensing agreements
and contracts for technical, commercial or administrative a-
ssistance.

ARTICLE 3
Treatment of Investments
(1) Investments and returns of investors of either Party shall
at all times be accorded fair and equitable treatment and s-
hall enjoy full protection in the territory of the other Pa-
rty. Neither Party shall in any way impair, by adopting unr-
easonable or discriminatory measures, the management, maint-
enance, use, enjoyment or disposal of investments in its te-
rritory of investors of the other Party.
(2) Each Party shall accord investments made by investors of the
other Party in the former's territory a treatment no less f-
avorable than that granted to investments of its own invest-
ors, or to investments of investors of any third State, whi-
chever is more favorable.
(3) The provisions of paragraph (2) shall not be construed so as
to oblige one Party to extend to the investors of the other
Party the benefit of any treatment, preference or privilege
resulting from:
(a) any existing or future customs union, free trade area, co-
mmon market, any similar international agreement or any i-
nterim arrangement leading up to such customs union, free
trade area, or common market to which either of the Parti-
es is or may become a party, or, compensation or other se-
ttlement, no less favorable than that which the latter Pa-
rty accords to its own investors or investors of any third
State, whichever is more favorable.

ARTICLE 5
Expropriation
(1) Investments of investors of either Party shall not be natio-
nalized, expropriated or subjected to measures having effec-
ts equivalent to nationalization or expropriation (hereinaf-
ter referred to as ”expropriation”) in the territory of t-
he other Party except in the public interest, under due pro-
cess of law, on a non-discriminatory basis and against prom-
pt, adequate and effective compensation. Such compensation
shall amount to the market value of the investment expropri-
ated immediately before the expropriation or before the imp-
ending expropriation became public knowledge, whichever is
earlier, shall include interest calculated according to the
annual LIBOR rate until the date of payment, shall be made
without delay, and be effectively realizable.
(2) The investor affected thereby shall have a right, under the
law of either Party making the expropriation, to prompt rev-
iew, by judicial or other independent authorities of that P-
arty in accordance with the procedures established by the l-
aw of that Party, of his or its case and of the valuation of
his or its investment in accordance with the principles set
out in this Article.

ARTICLE 6
Transfers of Investments and Returns
Each Party shall allow, in accordance with its laws and regulat-
ions, investors of the other Party the free transfer of payments
relating to their investments and returns, including compensati-
on paid pursuant to Articles 4 and 5. Unless otherwise agreed by
the investor, transfers shall be made at the rate of exchange a-
pplicable on the date of transfer subject to the exchange regul-
ations in force, transfers shall be effected without delay in a-
ny convertible currency at the market rate of exchange applicab-
le on the date of transfer.

ARTICLE 7
Settlement of Disputes between an Investor and a Party
(1) Disputes between an investor of either Party and the other
Party concerning an obligation of the latter under this Agr-
eement in relation to an investment of the former which have
not been amicably settled shall, after a period of three mo-
nths from written notification of a claim, be submitted to
international arbitration if the investor concerned so wish-
es.
(2) Where the dispute is referred to international arbitration,
the investor and the Party concerned in the dispute may agr-
ee to refer the dispute either to:
(a) the International Court of Arbitration of the Internation-
al Chamber of Commerce in accordance with its Arbitration
Rules; or
(b) an international arbitrator or ad hoc arbitration tribunal
to be appointed by a special agreement or established und-
er the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission
on International Trade Law. If after a period of three mo-
nths from written notification of the claim there is no a-
greement to one of the above alternative procedures, the
dispute shall at the request in writing of the investor c-
oncerned be submitted to arbitration at the International
Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Comm-
erce. The parties to the dispute may agree in writing to
modify the rules applicable to the arbitration. The award
shall be final and binding on the parties to the dispute.
Each party undertakes to enforce the awards.
(3) The arbitration award shall be based on the provisions of t-
his Agreement, the national legislation of the Party on the
territory of which the investment has been made, and the ru-
les and generally accepted principles of international law.

ARTICLE 8
Disputes between the Parties
(1) Disputes between the Parties concerning the interpretation
or application of this Agreement shall, if possible, be ami-
cably settled through consultation.
(2) If a dispute between the Parties cannot thus be settled wit-
hin a period of six months, it shall upon the request of ei-
ther Party be submitted to an arbitral tribunal.
(3) Such an arbitral tribunal shall be constituted for each ind-
ividual case in the following way. Within two months of the
receipt of the request for arbitration, each Party shall ap-
point one member of the tribunal. Those two members shall t-
hen select a national of a third State who on approval by t-
he Parties shall be appointed Chairman of the tribunal. The
Chairman shall be appointed within two months from the date
of appointment of the other two members.
(4) If within the periods specified in paragraph (3) of this ar-
ticle the necessary appointments have not been made, either
Party may, in the absence of any other agreement, invite the
Chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the I-
nternational Chamber of Commerce to make any necessary appo-
intments. If the Chairman is a national of either Party or
if he is otherwise prevented from discharging the said func-
tion, the Vice-Chairman shall be invited to make the necess-
ary appointments. If the Vice-Chairman is a national of eit-
her Party or if he too is prevented from discharging the sa-
id function, the Member of the International Court of Arbit-
ration of the International Chamber of Commerce next in sen-
iority who is not a national of either Party shall be invit-
ed to make the necessary appointments.
(5) The arbitral tribunal shall reach its decision by a majority
of votes.
Each Party shall bear the costs of its own member of the tr-
ibunal and of its representation in the arbitral proceedings
; the costs of the Chairman and the remaining costs shall be
borne in equal parts by the Parties. The tribunal may, howe-
ver, in its decision direct that a higher proportion of this
costs shall be borne by one of the two Parties. The tribunal
shall determine its own procedure.
(6) The award reached by the arbitral tribunal shall be final a-
nd binding on the Parties.

ARTICLE 9
Subrogation
If a Party or its designated agency makes a payment to its own
investor under a guarantee it has given in respect of an invest-
ment in the territory of the other Party, the latter Party shall
recognize the assignment, whether by law or by legal transaction
, to the former Party of all the rights and claims of the indem-
nified investor, and shall recognize that the former Party or i-
ts designated agency is entitled to exercise such rights and en-
force such claims by virtue of subrogation, to the same extent
as the original investor.

ARTICLE 10
Application of other Rules
(1) If the provisions of the law of either Party or obligations
under international law existing at present or established
hereafter between the Parties in addition to the rules cont-
ained in this Agreement, whether general or specific, entit-
ling investments and returns of investors of the other Party
to treatment more favorable than those which provided hereu-
nder Agreement, such rules shall prevail.
(2) Each Party shall observe any obligation it may have entered
into with regard to investments of investors of the other P-
arty.

ARTICLE 11
Scope of the Agreement
This Agreement shall apply to all investments, whether made bef-
ore or after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, but
shall not apply to any dispute which arose before entry into fo-
rce of this Agreement.

ARTICLE 12
Final Provisions
(1) This Agreement shall enter into force on the date when the
Parties, by an exchange of notes through diplomatic channel,
notify each other that the respective domestic legal proces-
ses required for implementation of this Agreement have been
completed.
(2) This Agreement shall remain in force for a period of ten ye-
ars.
Thereafter it shall continue in force until the expiration
of twelve months from the date on which either Party shall
have given written notice of termination to the other.
(3) In respect of investment made prior to the date when the no-
tice of termination becomes effective, the provisions of ar-
ticles 1 to 11 shall remain in force with respect to such i-
nvestment for a further period of twenty years from that day
.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized there-
to, have signed this Agreement.

Done at Taipei, on this seventeenth day of June 1999, in duplic-
ate, in the Chinese and English languages, both texts being equ-
ally authentic. In case of any difference of interpretation, the
English text shall prevail.

For the Government of For the Government of
the Republic of China the Republic of Liberia
H. E. Jason C. Hu H. E. Monie R. Captan
Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs