China News Agency, Beijing, January 7th: What is the new atmosphere of China's foreign-related rule of law?
China News Agency reporter Zhang Su
"In the past ten years, the international credibility and influence of China's judiciary has achieved a new leap." The National Court Work Conference held on the 6th made this judgment.
From adjudicating cases in accordance with the law to improving the rule system and promoting international cooperation, China's foreign-related rule of law has taken on a new look.
"A case is worth a stack of documents", the credibility and influence of China's judiciary is directly reflected in the judgment.
The meeting mentioned a number of landmark cases, including the legal trial of the "Zhang Gong Patriarch" sitting Buddha statue, the "Gabriel" shipwreck salvage contract case, the "Nerissa" ship arrest case, the "Angel Power" Maritime cases such as ship crew labor disputes.
In July last year, the Fujian court properly heard the first case of retrieving cultural relics lost overseas, the "Zhang Gong Patriarch" case, and ordered the foreign defendant to return the Song Dynasty body Buddha statue that was stolen and lost overseas.
Many scholars said that the judgment was "benchmarking, breakthrough, and pioneering" and safeguarded the ownership of the stolen cultural relics by Chinese victims.
On the other hand, more and more cases are being voluntarily chosen by foreign parties to be under the jurisdiction of Chinese courts, and judgments of Chinese courts have been recognized and enforced by more and more countries.
Statistics show that the first-instance foreign-related civil and commercial cases accepted by Chinese courts at all levels have increased from 14,800 in 2013 to 27,300 in 2021, involving parties from more than 100 countries and regions around the world.
According to the new regulations, starting from January 1 this year, the first instance of foreign-related civil and commercial cases shall in principle be under the jurisdiction of the grassroots people's courts, and more courts may accept foreign-related civil and commercial cases according to law.
The person in charge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court said that this will facilitate the litigation of Chinese and foreign parties, protect their legitimate rights and interests, and improve the quality and efficiency of trials.
Not only is it promoting judicial adjudication with the achievements of the modernization of the rule of law, China is also actively participating in the formulation of international rules.
According to the statistics of the Supreme People's Court, since 2013, it has participated in the review of the implementation of 10 international conventions, the negotiation of 11 international conventions and model laws, and the negotiation of more than 40 bilateral and multilateral judicial assistance agreements, "promoting the international rule of law towards a more just and reasonable direction of development".
In order to serve the high-quality development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", China has also promoted the establishment of a "one-stop" diversified resolution mechanism for international commercial disputes that organically connects litigation, arbitration, and mediation.
Yuan Guoqiang, co-chairman of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, believes that this is a unique and innovative move, which not only fully respects the autonomy and wishes of the parties, but also fits the increasingly popular hybrid dispute resolution model in the world.
At the same time, more legal talents from China are on the international judicial stage.
In November last year, Gao Xiaoli and Sun Xiangzhuang, judges of the Supreme People's Court, were elected judges of the United Nations Appeals Tribunal and the United Nations Dispute Tribunal respectively.
Both tribunals are important institutions of the United Nations internal justice system, and this election fills the vacancy of Chinese judges serving in the United Nations internal justice system.
Fang Le, a professor at the Law School of Nanjing Normal University, said that this shows that China's judiciary has gained certain advantages in foreign-related rule of law competition, and the judicial capabilities of Chinese judges have gained international recognition.
This move will help the United Nations internal justice system to achieve higher quality operation and promote fairness and justice.
From a larger perspective, China has achieved fruitful results in promoting international judicial cooperation.
In the past ten years, relevant departments have held 57 training courses for foreign judges, training 1,277 judicial officials from 63 countries and regions.
Documents such as the Shanghai Declaration of the World Executive Conference, the Wuzhen Declaration of the World Internet Rule of Law Forum, and the Kunming Declaration of the World Environmental Judicial Conference have been reached one after another, contributing to the promotion of international judicial cooperation and the development of the world's rule of law.
Facing the future, it is the key to coordinating the advancement of the domestic rule of law and the healing of foreign-related laws.
This national court work conference pointed out that more attention must be paid to the forward-looking planning and strategic layout of foreign-related rule of law work, and more attention should be paid to foreign-related factors and international influences in domestic judicial judgments.
The meeting also made arrangements for the next step to improve the applicable rule system of foreign-related and sea-related laws, and promote the construction of an international maritime judicial center, an international financial judicial center, and an international commercial dispute resolution center.
The outside world believes that through practical measures such as innovating the discourse of international law and cultivating high-level talents, China will make more achievements in the rule of law related to foreign affairs.
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