China-ASEAN/Justice Forum

Shotlist

Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China – July 20, 2022 (CGTN – No access Chinese mainland)
1. China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress
2. Online participants
3. Various of China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress; participants; flags
4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed with English) Zhou Qiang, president, Supreme People’s Court of China (partially overlaid with shot 5/ending with shot 6):
“The world today is increasingly polarized, economically intertwined and culturally diverse, and is becoming more information-oriented. It is an urgent issue facing all countries to strengthen cooperation in cross-border crime control, as well as judicial protection of intellectual property rights. I hope we will work together to create a market-oriented, law-based, and international business environment.”
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5. Various of China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress; participants
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6. Participants applauding
7. China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sundaresh Menon, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore (starting with shot 7/partially overlaid with shots 9-10):
“The law is a fundamental instrument of transnational economic integration. Trade Law, which forms the focus of our first topic, supplies the rules and principles through which we might build an open, fair and non-discriminatory system of cross-border trade and investment.”
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9. China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress
10. Reporters
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11. China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Muhammad Syarifuddin, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia (ending with shot 13):
“Achieving RCEP’s ultimate objective requires a well-ordered legal environment. Businesses and investors will need to be assured that whenever disputes arise. It would be able to be settled in a fair, consistent, predictable as well as efficient manner.”
13. China-ASEAN Justice Forum in progress

FILE: Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China – Nov 27, 2020 (CGTN – No access Chinese mainland)
14. National flags of China, ASEAN countries

FILE: Beijing, China – Nov 22, 2021 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
15. National flags of China, ASEAN countries

Storyline

Judicial leaders from top courts in China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to further collaborate on docking the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) economic and trade rules on Wednesday at the 3rd China-ASEAN Justice Forum held in Nanning City, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

This year’s forum focused on establishing a “high-level platform for judicial cooperation” for the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, a key component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect China with the rest of Asia, Africa and Europe.

Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court of China, said courts have provided crucial legal guardrails for securing economic ties between China and ASEAN.

China’s trade with the ASEAN totaled 274 billion U.S. dollars from January to April this year, up 7 percent from a year ago.

“The world today is increasingly polarized, economically intertwined and culturally diverse, and is becoming more information-oriented. It is an urgent issue facing all countries to strengthen cooperation in cross-border crime control, as well as judicial protection of intellectual property rights. I hope we will work together to create a market-oriented, law-based, and international business environment,” said Zhou.

The forum represented the first such high-level judicial gathering since RCEP came into effect early this year.

RCEP, the world’s largest free trade deal to date, covers 10 member states of the ASEAN and its five free trade agreement partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

“The law is a fundamental instrument of transnational economic integration. Trade Law, which forms the focus of our first topic, supplies the rules and principles through which we might build an open, fair and non-discriminatory system of cross-border trade and investment,” said Sundaresh Menon, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore.

Indonesia, ASEAN’s largest economy, agrees that courts need to adapt to commercial disputes under the new framework.

“Achieving RCEP’s ultimate objective requires a well-ordered legal environment. Businesses and investors will need to be assured that whenever disputes arise. It would be able to be settled in a fair, consistent, predictable as well as efficient manner,” said Muhammad Syarifuddin, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia.