Zhao Hong

Editors' Note: On 25 May 2023, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) held a seminar on the construction of the "one-stop" diversified international commercial dispute resolution platform of the SPC and development of the Belt and Road demonstration zone for international commercial legal services in the Sixth Circuit Court and the No.2 International Commercial Court of the SPC, Xi'an. The theme of the seminar was "New Era, New Opportunities, New Development". The third batch of newly appointed international commercial expert members attended the seminar. The speech of Professor Zhao Hong, representative of the expert members, is hereby published.

I am very honored to be appointed by the Supreme People’s Court as member of International Commercial Expert Committee. Here, I would like to thank the Supreme People’s Court for its appointment and trust in us new members. For this trust, we feel both great honor and great responsibility. We will conscientiously perform our duties and responsibilities, give full play to the advantages of specialization, diversification and internationalization, and contribute wisdom and strength to improving the efficiency of China’s international commercial dispute resolution mechanism, promoting the international judicial exchanges and cooperation, and providing higher-level judicial services for the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" Initiative.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the General Secretary Xi Jinping’s initiative to jointly build the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, and is also the fifth year that the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of China’s State Council issued the “Opinions on the Establishment of the ‘Belt and Road’ International Commercial Dispute Settlement Mechanism and Institutions”. In the context of the new era, new opportunities and new developments, the Supreme People’s Court has established the First and Second International Commercial Courts in Shenzhen and Xi'an to promote the construction of the “Belt and Road” international commercial dispute settlement mechanism and institutions. They have also actively innovated the procedural mechanism system of the China International Commercial Court (CICC), and have made major innovations in mechanisms such as case jurisdiction, litigation evidence, judgment documents, and smart trial; they’ve published judicial interpretations and guiding cases on relevant topics, clarified rules for adjudication of similar cases, and unified judicial adjudication standards; they’ve advocated the system of international commercial expert committees, and built a world-class legal think tank. They have jointly established a “one-stop” diversified resolution mechanism for international commercial disputes with ten international arbitration institutions and two international mediation institutions, and realized docking with overseas arbitration institutions for the first time, and built a “one-stop” online dispute resolution platform to promote the effective connection between litigation, arbitration and mediation. In the new historical period, China has actively promoted the reform and exploration of international commercial dispute resolution mechanisms and institutions, and carried out the reform and innovation of foreign-related legal services under the “Belt and Road” Initiative, which needs rich foresight. As an expert member, I am proud of China’s “one-stop” diversified international commercial dispute resolution platform and outstanding achievements in the construction of the “Belt and Road” Initiative.

At the same time, it needs to be recognized that there is a long way to improve the international commercial dispute resolution mechanism, promote the development and improvement of international dispute adjudication rules, and create an efficient and fair investment and business rule of law environment so as to provide high-level judicial services for high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, deepen international rule of law exchanges and cooperation, and enhance China’s rule of law competitiveness in the “Belt and Road” construction. The world is experiencing major changes unprecedented within last century; international relations, international economic and trade patterns have changed. China’s economy and the global economy are deeply integrated, especially the trade relations with countries along the “Belt and Road” are becoming increasingly close, and the demand for legal services and judicial protection is increasing. For example, the vast majority of countries have not formally signed the 2019 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention), and United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (the Singapore Convention on Mediation) has only entered into force in a few countries. In this post-pandemic era, international commercial litigation and arbitration cases tend to increase. While choosing and trusting China’s international commercial dispute resolution mechanism, the parties also put forward higher requirements for convenient and efficient legal services. In this context, how to enhance the international competitiveness and credibility of China’s international commercial dispute resolution mechanism, win the initiative in the fierce competition for the discourse power of international commercial dispute resolution under the “Belt and Road” Initiative, attract more Chinese and foreign parties to choose the jurisdiction of the CICC, and provide Chinese solutions for the resolution of international commercial disputes are the directions of our common thinking and efforts.

Taking this opportunity to speak here, in order to improve the construction of China’s “one-stop” international commercial dispute diversified resolution platform, and improve the capacity and level of judicial services for the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, I would like to offer some modest suggestions.

First, under the new situation, we should explore pragmatic measures to enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of the CICC. It is suggested that we should research on the impact of China’s Civil Procedure Law on the practical connection principle required by the parties to choose the court by agreement on offshore litigation, on the basis that the jurisdiction of international commercial courts mainly comes from the parties’ choice of agreement ruled by the “Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Regarding the Establishment of the International Commercial Court”. We should continue to improve and optimize the international level of the jurisdiction of the CICC on the basis of respecting the autonomy of the parties. In the meantime, we should consider taking circumstances based on public interests, public health, national security, major international emergencies and the principle of reciprocity as the basis for possible jurisdiction, so as to provide parties with more choices and better services. In view of the particularity of the “Belt and Road” economic and trade disputes involving complex projects in many fields such as energy and transportation, product tort liability, infrastructure, engineering construction, intellectual property rights, etc., it is recommended to summarize the typological cases of international commercial disputes in a timely manner for different types of disputes, so as to provide guidance and reference for the parties’ agreement on jurisdiction, improve the predictability of the parties’ jurisdiction, and reduce the litigation costs of the parties to a certain extent. Based on the parties’ requests, the possibility of hearing in the parties’ first language or providing multilingual translation at their own expense could be given consideration in practice. Furthermore, we should explore the development of a digital adjudication system actively.

Second, we should give full play to the core position of the CICC in the “one-stop” diversified international commercial dispute resolution platform, enhance the facilitation of the platform, support diversified dispute resolution in litigation, arbitration and mediation, and promote the functions of international arbitration and international mediation mechanisms. Nowadays, multiple dispute resolution channels coexist; it is advisable for the CICC to continue to strengthen the coordination and organic connection of litigation, arbitration and mediation, not only as the enforcement body of international commercial arbitration and mediation, but also entrust the International Commercial Expert Committee or international commercial mediation institutions to mediate in the cases accepted by the CICC. It is recommended that the effective interface of these procedures be further promoted in practice. It is also recommended to promote the revision of the Foreign Parties involved Parts of the Civil Procedure Law and the Arbitration Law, explore the legislation of commercial mediation norms, study the implementation mechanism of the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention and the Singapore Convention on Mediation, and clarify the nature of the International Commercial Expert Committee and their service subjects, so as to meet the needs of parties to resolve disputes in diversified ways.

Third, we should strengthen the traced research of cases of international dispute adjudication bodies, enhance the ability of theoretical research and practical application of international law, and improve the adjudication capacity of applying international treaties and practices. It is recommended to promote the arrangement of bilateral mutual judicial assistance mechanisms, especially the signing of bilateral mutual judicial assistance agreements with Belt and Road countries, and do a good job in the extraterritorial recognition and enforcement of judicial rulings, international commercial arbitration awards and mediation agreements of CICC.

In short, under the complex, changing international circumstances, the core mission of the CICC is to resolve international commercial disputes openly, fairly and efficiently, protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, and maintain the good order of fair and just international economic and trade cooperation. We firmly believe that under the guidance of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, China’s “one-stop” diversified international commercial dispute resolution platform will certainly achieve greater achievements, and contribute to promoting international commercial dispute resolution and the construction of the rule of law along the Belt and Road. We, the newly appointed members of the international commercial expert committee, will fulfill our duties and responsibilities!

Finally, I would like to thank the Supreme People’s Court again for its trust and sincerely wish the CICC greater achievements of work!

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*The original text is Chinese and has been translated into English for reference only. If there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the Chinese version and the English version, the Chinese version shall prevail.