China’s Going Global Plan Affects Economy and Beyond

Chinese leadership has rolled out the Belt and Road Initiative in the hopes of increasing China’s economic leverage in countries along the newly defined “Silk Road” and “Maritime Belt” (together, the “Belt and Road”).  Attracted by the opportunities to strengthen their economic and other ties with China, numerous countries along the “Belt and Road” routes have joined the initiative.  Dr. Yu Jianlong, Secretary General of the China Chamber of International Commerce & Vice Chairman of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, will analyze the opportunities and challenges of this initiative for Chinese businesses in our forthcoming seminar in Beijing (Nov. 22).  Dr. Mei Gechlik, Founder and Director of the Stanford Law School China Guiding Cases Project (“CGCP”), will discuss this initiative and its implications for the development of the Guiding Cases System in our Hong Kong seminar (Nov. 24).  Please sign up for free admission to these seminars by following the link below or here; or email your name, title, affiliation and which seminar you would like to attend to Ms. Jennifer Ingram, Fellow of the CGCP, at jaingram@stanford.edu.

To facilitate the expansion of Chinese investments, representative court cases involving parties from “Belt and Road” countries are being released to showcase how these foreign parties’ interests are protected.  Their release follows the issuance by the Supreme People’s Court of a formal document explaining the role of China’s courts in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.  The highest court specifies, among others, the needs to “strengthen judicial interpretations and case guidance”, “release typical cases”, and “study in-depth the rules of international law and the laws and regulations of countries along the [‘Belt and Road’] routes”.  Given the importance of this initiative and its potential impact on bringing about more judicial reforms in China, the CGCP has decided to launch a new series of in-depth study, the Belt & Road series, featuring the following products:

• B&R Cases^TM, a serial publication of the China Guiding Cases Project that provides full-text versions and high-quality English translations of court cases in China that are related to the country’s Belt and Road Initiative.
• B&R Texts^TM, a compilation of primary sources forming the legal framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, including legal cooperation agreements between China and countries along the “Belt and Road” routes.

The eight typical cases related to the Belt and Road Initiative released thus far illustrate the Chinese judiciary’s efforts in setting higher standards for handling these cases and their potential positive spillover effects.  Two examples are illustrative. B&R Typical Case 7 (a dispute over fraud with a guarantee letter) shows how the Higher People’s Court of Jiangsu Province adjudicated the case in accordance with the rule “pay compensation first, dispute later” embedded in the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees of the International Chamber of Commerce.  In B&R Typical Case 8 (a case of an application for the recognition and enforcement of a court judgment of the Republic of Poland), the Intermediate People’s Court of Ningbo Municipality, Zhejiang Province, recognized a civil judgment rendered by the Court of Appeal in Wrocław, Poland, thus honoring an agreement entered into between China and Poland on judicial assistance in civil and criminal matters.

If you like our work and want to learn more, we invite you to attend our upcoming seminars in Beijing and Hong Kong, which will be our first in Asia.  The full list of speakers and program for each seminar is included below.  Seats are filling up quickly, so please sign up soon!

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