Legal Choices in Cross-Border E-Commerce Contract: A Comparative Analysis Between China and Pakistan Under the Belt and Road Initiative

The “globalization” of e-commerce has made it more difficult to develop suitable laws for cross-border digital contracts. We analyze this legal complexity through a comparative study of digital trade laws and policies in China and Pakistan. Pakistan is a rapidly digitalizing economy involved in and developing through the Belt and Road Initiative. The research employs theoretical, comparative, and normative research methods to examine statutory legislations, litigation practices, and regulatory instruments, such as the Law of the Application of Foreign-related Civil Relations Law (2010) in China and the Electronic Transactions Act (2002) in Pakistan. It also follows that the ethical values within Islamic law may consider fairness, consent, and competitiveness in contracts. The results of the study show that China's written legal system has promoted certainty, but strengthened national supervision and control, while the mixed common law in Pakistan and Islamic law structure is still relatively scattered. This article recommends legislative reforms in Pakistan, strengthened bilateral judicial cooperation, and legal coordination on the basis of secular and Islamic just concepts to ensure the predictability and moral governance of digital trade.