Navigating the New Era: the emergence of China’s international commercial courts

Abstract

ABSTRACT Alongside China’s increasing efforts to update its legal regime facilitating the ‘One Belt and One Road Initiative’ and strengthening foreign-related rule of law, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and some lower courts are playing a vital role in modernizing international commercial litigation. The SPC, leading lower Chinese courts, has been zealous in reforming international commercial litigation, and piece-meal measures were adopted over the years. The most salient step is the establishment of international commercial courts (CICCs), accompanied by the use of such mechanisms as anti-suit injunctions, forum non conveniens, and de jure reciprocity favouring foreign judgments recognition in China. These judicial efforts and the expected moves alike will definitely contribute a lot to internationalization of China’s international civil procedure towards the global mainstream. However, the systemic deep judicial and legislative reforms are both needed for China’s international commercial litigation to go global and moreover, the process shall be conducted with an eye towards keeping it current and enhancing its relevance to the realities of today’s dispute resolution world.