Xinjiang to build legal service system for overseas development

To meet the growing legal demands from deepening economic and trade cooperation between Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Belt and Road Initiative countries — particularly those in Central Asia — the region's authorities are acting.

The justice department of Xinjiang is working on multiple fronts to build a legal services system tailored to the region's international development. These include strengthening legal services, advancing dispute mediation, fostering world-class arbitration institutions and enhancing the cultivation of foreign-related legal talent.

According to the justice department, efforts will be made to accelerate the substantive operation of the Urumqi Representative Office of the Belt and Road Legal Service Association. 

Moreover, efforts will be made to set up public interest consultation services for foreign-related legal affairs and to promote the coordinated development of legal service districts in the Urumqi, Kashgar and Horgos areas of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone. By integrating various legal resources, the department aims to provide foreign-related enterprises with more convenient and professional legal services.

To improve the commercial dispute mediation mechanism and enable more efficient resolution of foreign-related disputes, the department will encourage chambers of commerce and industry associations within Xinjiang to set up specialized commercial mediation organizations. It will also support the establishment of regional commercial mediation organizations in Urumqi, the Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture and Kashgar prefecture, helping enterprises to resolve their commercial disputes locally and efficiently.

Meanwhile, exchanges and cooperation with the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions will be deepened. Building on the establishment of the Xinjiang–Hong Kong joint-venture law firm, further cooperation models will be explored to introduce higher-quality foreign-related legal services.

To beef up the competitiveness of Xinjiang's arbitration services and to facilitate cross-border arbitration channels, the department will support local arbitration institutions in setting up overseas branches, and actively cultivate world-class arbitration institutions. This will allow commercial disputes between Xinjiang-based businesses and Central Asian partners to be settled efficiently through local arbitration.

Furthermore, the department supports local legal service institutions in expanding globally and in collaborating with their counterparts in Central Asia, providing strong legal safeguards for the overseas interests of Chinese enterprises and citizens.

In addition, the department will leverage the Xinjiang University Alliance for the Cultivation of Foreign-Related Legal Talent to expand the methods and channels for talent cultivation, in a bid to provide talent support for Xinjiang's high-level opening-up, and continuously enhance the region's capacity in foreign-related legal services.