If The Contract Is Unenforceable, Are Its Arbitration Provisions Also Unenforceable?

​Not necessarily and not on the facts of Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group v Golden Ocean Group Ltd, [2013] EWHC 1063 (Comm). Beijing Jianlong provided guarantees to Golden Ocean in relation to the performance of Hong Xiang Shipping (HXS) as charterer of a vessel. HXS allegedly repudiated its obligations, and Golden Ocean turned to Beijing Jianlong as guarantor. The response was that the guarantees were not legal under Chinese law, which requires a Chinese legal person to obtain government authorisation for guarantees in favour of foreign entities, as a matter of control over foreign exchange -- and Beijing Jianlong contended that the parties not only knew this to be the case from the outset but also that the required permission had not been obtained. As a result, Beijing Jianlong argued, the guarantees were unenforceable in the English courts as a matter of public policy. It also argued that the arbitration provisions in the guarantees, which would have seen any