By Zhou Qiang

Great Potential for Judicial Cooperation across Region

By Zhou Qiang

Finding themselves in similar stages of development, China and ASEAN countries are faced with an exciting opportunity to strengthen cooperation among courts and judges

About the author: Zhou Qiang is the president of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China.

With the development of economic globalization and regional integration, economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN has become increasingly close in recent years. Countries in the region have become economically interdependent and none can prosper without cooperation with others.

However, cross-border crime and civil and commercial disputes involving foreign parties are on the rise, especially smuggling, drug trafficking, telecommunications fraud and organized crime, all of which pose a serious threat to the region’s economic development and social stability. Because of these threats, Chinese and ASEAN court systems should strengthen their cooperation in judicial affairs.

Courts in both China and ASEAN countries are faced with several daunting tasks, including preventing and combating cross-border crime, law enforcement cooperation, intellectual property protection, judicial assistance and training of judges. They are also expected to join hands to deal with all kinds of risks and challenges, including handling foreign-related civil and commercial disputes in a fair and efficient manner.

For future China-ASEAN cooperation in this field, my suggestion is that we strengthen cooperation in three aspects: promoting practical cooperation in adjudication and enforcement, increasing judicial assistance and strengthening exchanges and mutual learning in key areas.

China and most ASEAN countries remain developing countries. The courts in our respective countries are faced with similar problems and challenges. On the basis of equal consultation, mutual trust, mutual benefit and pragmatic and efficient cooperation, we should promote exchanges and cooperation at every stage from case filing to trial and verdict. We should strengthen cooperation in handling crossborder crimes and foreign-related civil and commercial disputes. We should face squarely and sincerely new developments and new problems in our judicial cooperation and properly analyze and handle problems of common concern. The experience and practice in improving the quality and efficiency of trials and enforcing effective adjudication should be shared to add to the quality of our judicial systems.

Unique geographical connections have contributed to the exchanges and cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, which have also led to frequent cross-border disputes. It is essential that courts in China and ASEAN countries do more to cooperate to fight cross-border crimes effectively and deal with foreign-related civil and commercial disputes efficiently.

Under the provisions of their own laws and the duties of judges and courts, the courts of regional countries should give each other support in the service of legal documents, evidence collection and the provision of relevant legal materials within the framework of international treaties or the principle of reciprocity. Once the conditions are right, we can further cooperate in legal coordination, especially in terms of commercial law integration and judicial assistance, as well as mutual recognition and enforcement of the judgments of other courts and arbitral bodies, facilitating the establishment of institutional arrangements for judicial assistance.

Chinese and ASEAN courts should further communicate on judicial reform and promote judicial justice by optimizing the allocation of judicial resources and strengthening protection for judges' law-based performance of their duties. We should strengthen cooperation in IT application and make full use of modern science and technology to build an open, dynamic, transparent and convenient judicial mechanism, therefore modernizing the justice system.