China to set up Belt and Road commercial court

The Supreme People's Court of China is considering to set up a Belt and Road International Commercial Court to provide fair, convenient and low-cost legal services to parties from the countries participating into the Belt and Road Initiative, said Liu Guixiang, member of the supreme court's judicial committee, in his speech at a forum on international judicial cooperation along the Belt and Road routes in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province, on Sept. 26.

Disputes regarding cross-border finance, trade, infrastructure projects, logistics, marine affairs and commerce as well as intellectual property rights are on the rise among the countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative. It has already proven difficult to settle disputes through these countries' respective judicial, arbitration, mediation and negotiation systems. It takes the countries' collective efforts to form a fair and efficient dispute settlement mechanism for the Belt and Road Initiative, Liu said.

Liu said that Chinese courts will apply the principle of reciprocity to provide for the judgments of foreign courts on civil and commercial cases to be recognized and enforced in China. The Supreme People's Court of China is working to make such recognition and enforcement more convenient and transparent.

He said the supreme court will strengthen judicial cooperation with the countries participating into the Belt and Road Initiative, to establish international judicial aid research bases, law and judicial information centers, judicial case study centers, and to form a full-coverage, timely and efficient international judicial aid mechanism with recognition and enforcement of the judgment and arbitration decision as the key to facilitate the solution of cross-border disputes, as well as the enforcement of the reconciliation decisions.