China bolsters legal system for foreign-related services

China is strengthening its foreign-related legal framework, improving legal services and bolstering international exchanges and talent development to support high-level opening-up and address external challenges, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Wu Yanjun, vice-minister of justice, said that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with relevant authorities, has been advancing foreign-related legislation. This includes formulating and issuing regulations on countering unjustified foreign extraterritorial jurisdiction, provisions on the security of industrial and supply chains, and rules on foreign investment.

The legislative efforts are aimed at providing stronger institutional support for China's high-quality development and high-level opening-up, Wu said.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), efforts will be further strengthened in areas including international civil and commercial judicial assistance, overseas labor cooperation, and foreign contracting projects, with the aim of expanding China's legal "toolbox" for handling foreign-related issues, he said.

To help domestic enterprises expand overseas, the ministry will accelerate the launch of online operations for a newly established foreign-related legal service platform, deepen the development of an international commercial arbitration center, and guide more law firms and arbitration institutions in expanding their international presence, Wu said.

China has signed 92 bilateral treaties on judicial assistance, Wu said. As the authority responsible for external liaison concerning these treaties, the ministry handles more than 3,300 requests for international judicial assistance annually and has conducted bilateral exchanges with judicial departments in 77 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, steadily deepening mutual learning on the rule of law, he said.

While continuing to implement the treaties, the ministry plans to promote international exchanges on criminal judicial assistance and the transfer of sentenced persons, while strengthening the review of requests involving the transfer of evidence abroad, Wu said.

"We'll also actively combat transnational crimes such as telecom fraud and money laundering, and guide the rule-of-law response to a range of foreign-related civil and commercial cases, so as to strongly protect the personal and property safety of Chinese nationals and enterprises," he added.

Wu also highlighted the importance of cultivating legal professionals with expertise in foreign-related affairs. In recent years, the ministry has accelerated efforts to develop interdisciplinary talent to address gaps in expertise in areas including maritime affairs, finance and intellectual property.

"Six training sessions for foreign-related lawyers have been held this year, benefiting more than 500 participants in total," he said. "In April, the first training session for heads of legal affairs at foreign-related enterprises was organized, drawing more than 10,000 such executives online and offline."

Regular training for foreign-related enterprises will continue, with a greater focus on major countries and regions, key industries and areas of urgent need, to strengthen targeted talent support for foreign-related rule-of-law work, Wu said.

Jiang Shan, head of the Ministry of Justice's Second Bureau of Legislation, said China's amended Foreign Trade Law and Maritime Law, as well as the Customs Law currently under revision, demonstrate that trade facilitation is steadily improving and the country's business environment is becoming more open and better optimized.

To better safeguard the security of China's overseas assets and the overseas interests of Chinese enterprises and citizens, the ministry has guided and required domestic enterprises and citizens to comply with the laws, cultural traditions and customs of host countries while continuing to improve foreign-related legal services, Jiang said.

"We're stepping up research on dedicated legislation for the protection of overseas interests, aiming to strengthen safeguards for Chinese nationals and businesses going global through a more systematic framework of foreign-related rule-of-law development," he added.