Guangxi advances soft alignment of judicial rules to boost Belt and Road cooperation

As China's gateway for opening-up and cooperation with ASEAN, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in South China has seen rising demand for foreign-related legal services in recent years. Legal service providers across the region have introduced a range of innovative measures to advance the soft alignment of judicial rules, providing solid legal support for Belt and Road cooperation.

In Nanning, the regional capital, a multi-party dispute resolution system has expanded internationally. To raise Guangxi's international profile in arbitration and mediation, the Nanning Arbitration Commission, also known as the Nanning International Arbitration Court, has recruited 32 foreign arbitrators and 18 arbitrators from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the Taiwan region, and has appointed international experts as think tank members. It has also built a multilingual, AI-powered legal service platform to provide both domestic and foreign-related legal services.

Earlier this year, the arbitration court connected with the mediation platform of the Nanning Intermediate People's Court, enabling full-process coordination covering case diversion, mediation confirmation, arbitration-adjudication linkage, and enforcement of legal documents. Moreover, the court, together with the Asian Institute of Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Law School of Guangxi University, organized training sessions for international mediators.

The arbitration court and relevant entities have also issued joint guidelines to establish a one-stop mechanism integrating litigation, arbitration, and mediation for foreign-related commercial disputes, removing institutional barriers between arbitration and litigation.

The Liuzhou Research Center for Foreign-Related Rule of Law is a joint initiative established by Guangxi University of Science and Technology, the Liuzhou Justice Bureau and the Liuzhou Law Society. Drawing on the university's language expertise in Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai, as well as its AI resources and legal academic capacity, the center focuses on supporting Liuzhou's pillar industries, such as automobile and machinery manufacturing, in addressing the legal needs of the ASEAN market. By building a country-specific legal corpus for ASEAN nations, it enables enterprises to quickly access relevant laws and regulations for contract signing and investment, thereby reducing risks in international ventures.

Currently, the center is systematically compiling and translating legal provisions and industry norms of ASEAN countries while launching a specialized study of Laos' national laws.

To support the development of industries such as port logistics and cross-border manufacturing, the Qinzhou Arbitration Commission has promoted the establishment of an online dispute resolution model, enabling online case filing, remote video hearings, and blockchain-based evidence preservation.

Currently, foreign-related commercial disputes in Qinzhou can be handled entirely online, from filing and video hearings to electronic delivery of documents. This eliminates the need for international parties to travel to Qinzhou and significantly improves dispute resolution efficiency.

In Pingxiang, a county-level city administered by Chongzuo city in Guangxi, a dedicated legal service workstation resolves cross-border disputes through flexible mediation. The Puzhai People's Mediation Committee for Foreign-Related Disputes actively resolves disputes through its China-Vietnam Legal Service (Puzhai) Workstation. Mediators uphold legal principles while respecting cross-border trade customs. Since its launch, the workstation has settled 519 foreign-related commercial disputes involving more than 47 million yuan ($7.05 million), preserving business ties and facilitating vibrant border trade.