Examining Investor Protection in the South China Sea through an Islamic Large Language Model Legal Analysis

Abstract

The Asia-Pacific area, which comprises a sizeable portion of the world economy, has become a popular destination for investment. Furthermore, there is a significant Muslim population in the Asia-Pacific region that is increasingly seeking financial services and products that align with their religious principles. This includes the South China Sea (SCS), which borders several nations including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, and the Philippines, has drawn a lot of attention. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of focus on the growing tensions resulting from conflicting territorial claims. Foreign investors are growing more concerned about protecting their capital in light of the escalating tensions in the South China Sea (SCS). This article explores the application of large language models, specifically Llama 3, in analysing investment treaties and their relationship with measures to protect Islamic finance investors. The methodology employs a comparative legal case approach that integrates principles of Islamic finance to examine investor protection in the South China Sea. The analysis includes the implications of the outcomes of tribunals in the Crimea cases, commonly known as effective control. Under the jurisdiction of the host state, they carried out investment treaties within the territory even without meeting the international legal definition of territory. Given the large Muslim population in the territory, LLMs may utilise the textual information and reasoning for textual information processing and conclusion. This also resulted in the conclusion that implementing investment treaties beyond national boundaries would allow for discussions on the maritime rights of SCS governments without the need for precise demarcation, enabling the application of a uniformly held Islamic legal principles for dealing with Investor protection irrespective of the domestic legislation. Future research may focus on the utilisation of LLMs for decision making in investor dispute tribunals, thereby providing more consistent decisions taking into account Islamic principles that are more uniformly held.