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on the morning of october 10, 2018, the shanghai higher people’s court (hereinafter referred to as the shpc) held a press conference to mark the fifth anniversary of the birth of the “beltroad” initiative. guo weiqing, member of the party group of shpcdirector of the leading group office for reform of judicial system, wang shan, chief judge of the no.4 civil tribunal of the shpc,gu quan, director of the research room of the shpc attended the press conference, which was hosted by lu weimin, member of the party group, director of the political departmentspokesman of the shpc. at the conference, guo weiqing briefed on the background ofrelevant information about the typical cases showing how courts in shanghai have provided services to guarantee the “beltroad” initiative (hereinafter referred to as the typical cases), wang shan introduced the main contents of the typical cases in detail,guo weiqinggu quan answered the reporters’ questions. according to the press conference, this year marks the fifth anniversary since the “beltroad” initiative was officially put forward. the shpc has ed eight representative cases from a collection of typical cases provided by the courts in shanghai which reflect how they have been doing to guarantee the “beltroad” initiativemade them public. those eight cases cover many aspects of the “beltroad” initiative, such as disputes over marine insurance contract, marine cargo agency contract, infringement of trademarks, performing agency contract, application for recognitionenforcement of foreign arbitral awards,application for maritime injunction, from which the legal problems arise are very representative. for example, in the case of siemens international trade (shanghai) co., ltd. applying for recognitionenforcement of foreign arbitral awards, the court, based on the reform background of promoting investmenttrade facilitation, paid attention to the identification of foreign-related factors in the contract disputes between wholly foreign-owned enterprises in the pilot free trade zone,recognizedimplemented an award made by singapore international arbitration center. it shows that our court has been actively exercising the power of judicial review, which is in line with the principle of “conducive to implementation” under the new york convention. the case was also ed by the supreme people’s court as one of the second typical cases involving the “beltroad” construction. according to the press conference, china was the participant in the 1958 recognitionenforcement of foreign arbitral awards, i. e., the new york convention. in accordance with the convention, the courts of china recognizeenforce the relevant foreign arbitral awards, which not only embodies our performance of the international law, but also guarantees the effective operation of the dispute settlement mechanism concerning the “beltroad” initiative. in the process of china’s enterprises going outcooperating with the ries along the “beltroad,” one of the key problems facing the dispute settlement concerning the “beltroad” construction is whether we can accurately define the nature of risksallocate equallyreasonably the losses caused by risks among the parties. in the typical cases, in the aswan cement company v. tian’an property insurance co., ltd. marine insurance contract dispute, the court of second instance, based on the transferability of the policy, strictly determined the insurance clauses applicable to the insurance contract in accordance with the agreement of the parties concerned, so as to standardize the internal operation of domestic insurance companies in the “beltroad” construction, thereby enhancing the international competitiveness of china’s insurance industrypromoting the development of international insurance service trade. in addition, as the “beltroad” construction goes deeper, the number of disputes over intellectual property rights, service trademarket access management has also been on the rise. the courts’ careful handling of newfrontline issues is reflected in the typical cases. for example, in the case of s.m. entertainment v. huang zitaothe case concerning the tort of general mills trade (shanghai) co., ltd., the court analyzedclarified the nature of contractual obligations in the establishment of exclusive agency rights in multinational performing agency contracts, providing useful experience for lawfulorderly performing agency rules to be set up in the entertainment markets along the “beltroad”. moreover, the typical cases also reflects the rapidproper handling of cases, another sign of providing quality judicial services for the “beltroad” construction. in the case of coalition multimodal transport limited partnership company applying for a maritime injunction, when a batch of goods used for the people’s livelihood infrastructure of the republic of kazakhstan were passing through lianyungang, china, the logistics company refused to arrange follow-up transportation on the grounds that the affiliated company of coalition company was in arrears, resulting in the long detention of the goods involved. in order to avoid the interruption of subsequent installation work in kazakhstan, the court, after finding out the facts, made full use of the maritime injunction systemtimely decided that the respondent should deliver the goods, which ensured the smooth operation of the important materials concerning the “beltroad” constructionpromoted the efficient passage of the logistics transportation channels for the “beltroad” construction. the case was also ed by the supreme people’s court as one of the ten typical maritime trials in 2017. in the trial of these cases, the courts made clear legal responses to the complicated problemsgave concrete policy feedback to the judicial demands of the “beltroad” construction. it reflects the common value orientation of strict protection of property rights, respect for autonomy of the will, standardization of market order,optimization of business environment, as well as the principles of international exchanges featuring mutual respect, equalitymutual benefit,win-win cooperation with the ries, enterprisesindividuals along the “beltroad”. according to the press conference, from october 2013 to september 2018, the courts in shanghai accepted 2,636 first-instance criminal, civilcommercial,administrative cases involving the “beltroad” initiative,concluded 2,464 of them. most of the ries involved in the cases were south korea, singapore, malaysia, etc. in 2015, the supreme people’s court issued the opinions on the people’s courts providing judicial servicesguarantees for the “beltroad” construction, the shpc immediately responded by developingissuing to the courts across shanghai the opinions on implementing it, in which it makes comprehensive deployment to give full play to the trial function of the courts,establishperfect relevant working mechanisms, with a view to servingguaranteeing the “beltroad” construction. according to the press conference, in recent years, courts at all levels in shanghai have continuously optimizedimproved the mechanism of foreign-related trials, actively developed diversified channels for dispute settlement,accelerated the training of foreign-related judicial talent teams, so as to enhance the ability to serveguarantee the “beltroad” construction in all directions. in terms of optimizingimproving the mechanism of foreign-related trials, the courts have appointed special collegial panelssenior judges to hear foreign-related cases. some even have taken targeted measures. for example, the shanghai no.3 intermediate people’s court, the no.3 branch of shanghai people’s procuratoratethe anti-smuggling bureau of shanghai customs jointly signed the opinions on servingguaranteeing the construction of the “beltroad”the shanghai pilot free trade zone, in which specific measures are provided for the construction of the “beltroad”the pilot free trade zone from four aspects: unifying the concept of law enforcement, widening the service channels, enhancing the capacity for law enforcementinnovating the working mechanism. in the meantime, the courts across shanghai have actively expanded channels, deepened organizational collaboration, promptly recognized the judiciary,initially given play to the important role of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism in servingguaranteeing the “beltroad” construction. for example, the shanghai maritime courtthe shanghai commercial mediation center have established a special mediation mechanismset up workstations for the “beltroad”-related trial in the key nodes such as the sino-kazakhstan logistics base. according to the press conference, the shpc is now studying to strengthen, in accordance with the opinions on establishing the international commercial dispute settlement mechanisminstitutions concerning the “beltroad” initiative adopted by the central leading group for comprehensively deepening the reformthe requirements of the shanghai municipal party committee to optimize the legal environment for business, the unified guidanceorderly establishment of the diversified settlement mechanism for foreign-related civilcommercial disputes, which include cases concerning the “beltroad” initiative. it also relies on the shanghai people’s court of pudong new area, the free trade zone tribunal of the shanghai maritime court,the west hongqiao (import expo) people’s court of the shanghai people’s court of qingpu district to explore the feasibility of establishing a foreign-related commercial dispute settlement mechanism which connects mediation, litigationarbitration. guo weiqing said at the press conference that the shpc will continue to fully play a demonstrative role, encourageguide courts at all levels in shanghai to further improve the relevant services in guaranteeing the “beltroad” initiative, further raise the sense of responsibilitythe judicial capability of the courts in servingguaranteeing the “beltroad” initiative, thereby creating a good environment of rule of law for the “beltroad” construction.
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