Continuously Enhancing the International Influence of China’s Foreign-related Judicial System — An Interview with Shen Hongyu, Chief Justice of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court

　　Beijing, March 13 (China News Service) Topic: Continuously Enhancing the International Influence of Foreign-related Judiciary—Exclusive Interview with Shen Hongyu, Head of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme Court

　　Reporter Zhang Su

　　The "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" proposal clearly states, "Accelerate the construction of foreign-related legal systems and capabilities, and improve mechanisms for international commercial mediation, arbitration, and litigation."

　　Shen Hongyu, Head of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People's Court, said in a recent exclusive interview with a China News Service reporter that in the opening year of the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan," efforts will be made to improve the rules for the application of foreign-related civil and commercial laws, enhance the construction of diversified mechanisms for international commercial litigation, arbitration, and mediation, and continuously enhance the international influence of foreign-related judiciary.

　　Unifying Standards for Judging Foreign-related Civil and Commercial Cases

　　Law is the foundation of governance.

　　Shen Hongyu introduced that in recent years, the Supreme People's Court has deeply participated in the legislative and amendment work of major foreign-related laws such as the Foreign Relations Law, Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, Foreign State Immunity Law, Civil Procedure Law, Arbitration Law, and Maritime Law, issued multiple judicial interpretations on the ascertainment of foreign laws, application of international treaties and international practices, and formulated judicial supporting documents for the Foreign State Immunity Law, providing solid judicial guarantees for the steady advancement of the country's high-level opening-up.

　　Data shows that during the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period, courts nationwide concluded 159,000 foreign-related cases, an increase of 66% compared to the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan." Among them, in 2025, courts nationwide concluded 33,600 foreign-related civil and commercial cases, a year-on-year increase of 31.76%.

　　Shen Hongyu said that the next step will be to expedite the formulation of judicial interpretations supporting the laws on the application of foreign-related civil relations, maritime law, and anti-foreign sanctions law, implement the drafting of the amendment to the Special Procedure Law for Maritime Litigation, conduct research on judicial interpretations of the Arbitration Law and Foreign State Immunity Law, timely release guiding cases on foreign-related jurisdiction and law application, publish typical cases on foreign-related commercial maritime mediation, protection of foreign investment legal rights, and unify the standards for judging foreign-related civil and commercial cases.

　　Creating a Preferred Location for International Commercial Dispute Resolution

　　"In recent years, the work mechanism of the People's Court International Commercial Court has been continuously improved, playing an increasingly important role in resolving international commercial disputes, providing strong legal protection for the equal protection of the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties and safeguarding the overseas interests of Chinese enterprises," said Shen Hongyu.

　　In June 2018, the Supreme People's Court implemented the central reform deployment and established the first and second international commercial courts in Shenzhen and Xi'an respectively.

　　By the end of 2025, the Supreme People's Court International Commercial Court had accepted 46 international commercial cases and concluded 37; the parties involved were from 21 countries and regions, with a total amount of 13.79 billion yuan (RMB, the same below). Among them, 10 cases were settled through mediation and withdrawal, accounting for 27%, with the amount of mediation and withdrawal cases reaching 3.7 billion yuan.

　　With the approval of the Supreme People's Court, 18 intermediate people's courts in places such as Suzhou, Beijing, Xiamen, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have successively established local court international commercial courts. In 2025, local court international commercial courts concluded 1,777 foreign-related commercial, foreign-related arbitration judicial review cases, a year-on-year increase of 24%, with the amount involved nearly 40 billion yuan.

　　"The Supreme People's Court International Commercial Court has fully utilized Eastern mediation experience and strengthened the substantive resolution of conflicts and disputes, achieving significant results." Shen Hongyu gave an example, saying that last year, the first international commercial court heard a case involving the liquidation responsibility dispute of a Swiss company, and both parties reached a settlement agreement in court, substantively resolving an international commercial dispute worth tens of millions of dollars in one go.

　　The second international commercial court went to Shanghai for a circuit trial of a dispute case involving shareholders and directors from China and South Korea, and after multiple rounds of mediation after the trial, successfully resolved a nearly decade-long Sino-foreign joint venture dispute.

　　Further Improving Dispute Resolution Efficiency

　　It is known that the Supreme Court International Commercial Court has established a "one-stop" diversified resolution mechanism for international commercial disputes, incorporating 10 international commercial arbitration institutions such as the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, and 2 international commercial mediation institutions, forming a "one-stop" online platform for the organic connection of various dispute resolution resources, achieving efficient connection between judiciary, arbitration, and mediation, significantly improving dispute resolution efficiency.

　　Judicial practice shows that effectively utilizing mediation, this "Eastern experience," not only helps efficiently resolve foreign-related disputes and achieve a good legal effect of multi-win and win-win, but also allows more and more foreign parties to feel respected, heard, and treated equally.

　　Shen Hongyu stated that efforts will continue to be made to increase support and supervision of arbitration, promote arbitration to play a greater role in diversified dispute resolution mechanisms, enhance the construction of the litigation-mediation connection mechanism, improve the judicial confirmation mechanism for foreign-related commercial mediation agreements, support the development of international commercial mediation organizations, and strive to create a diversified resolution mechanism for international commercial disputes with Chinese characteristics that is fair, professional, efficient, convenient, and low-cost.

　　She also said that the next step will focus on accelerating the construction of foreign-related trial systems and capabilities, continue to improve the application mechanism of international treaties and international practices, enhance the cross-border recognition and enforcement mechanism of civil and commercial judgments, optimize the mechanism for ascertaining foreign laws, better utilize the "think tank" role of international commercial expert committees, and continuously enhance the credibility and international influence of China's foreign-related judiciary. (End)