China has concluded several bilateral and multilateral international investment agreements (HAs), but none has the reservation list attached. The literature on HAs has neglected to consider the existence and causes of this phenomenon. China is now struggling to complete its first reservation list in history in its U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) negotiation. This article is the first study to highlight the issues regarding reservation lists in China's agreements and argues that ongoing legal reforms and failure in infra-government coordination impede completion of these reservation lists.