Shanghai is aiming to establish rules for international commercial litigations that meet global standards as it aims to improve the handling of foreign legal affairs, a top judicial official said on Tuesday.

The move is among the latest efforts by the city to enhance China's jurisdictional attractiveness, legal influence and institutional competitiveness in trials related to foreign affairs, said Jia Yu, a deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Shanghai High People's Court. He made the remarks ahead of the annual plenary sessions of the national legislature and political advisory body, which are set to begin next week in Beijing.

"Shanghai plans to actively pursue groundbreaking pilot projects at the Shanghai International Commercial Court, introduce leading and benchmarking reform and innovation measures, and establish a number of exemplary cases with pioneering and benchmark significance," Jia said.

The city also intends to align its judicial initiatives with global standards and actively participate in the formulation of international commercial rules to enhance China's authority and influence in international judicial matters, he said.

"In recent years, Shanghai courts have cited the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in some cases and have recognized judgments from other countries, including the United Kingdom and Japan, in others. This demonstrates Shanghai's ongoing efforts in its internationalization of foreign-related commercial trials," Jia said.

As a key hub of China's reform and opening-up, Shanghai has been working to position itself as an international center for economy, finance, trade, shipping and technological innovation. The city's efforts to better manage foreign-related legal affairs play a crucial role in creating a more favorable international business environment, Jia said.

According to the latest World Bank assessment on the business environment released in 2021, Shanghai ranked third globally in terms of enforcing contracts, with its index of judicial process quality topping global city rankings for two consecutive years.

Over the past few years, Shanghai has sought to establish itself as a leading venue for international commercial and maritime dispute resolution.

"The number of cases where parties voluntarily choose Shanghai courts for jurisdiction has been steadily increasing," Jia said.

Last year, three cases in which international treaties were accurately applied were included in the case repository of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Additionally, two cases involving judicial review of arbitration were recognized by China's Supreme People's Court as exemplary cases, and dozens of others were featured in reputable international publications and databases, according to the Shanghai High People's Court.

On Tuesday, the court also held a news briefing to announce the release of the second season of a docuseries highlighting the city's foreign-related judicial work.

The 10-episode series features foreign-related cases and interviews with expatriates who discuss the Shanghai courts' innovative efforts to handle legal matters in the business environment.

For example, in a 2023 case involving Tesla engineer Adrian Hamczyk and his team in which trade secrets were leaked, the intellectual property tribunal of the Pudong New Area People's Court took swift legal action to prevent further leaks.

"There is a Chinese saying : 'timely rain'. The court's assistance was like a timely rain, providing us with strong support in protecting trade secrets," said Hamczyk, who is from Poland.

Additionally, the Shanghai No 3 Intermediate People's Court recently became the first court in China to recognize Japanese bankruptcy proceedings.

The recognition allowed the Shanghai office of Japanese law firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu to assist a financially troubled Japanese company in disposing of real estate, equity and other assets in China.

"There are a large number of Japanese enterprises with assets in China. This practice has given great confidence to the judiciary and business communities of Japan," said Masanori Kawai, a partner at the law firm.

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