The Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Mediation Center releases the Annual Report on Commercial Mediation in China 2022-2023 on January 5, 2024, in Beijing. It is the first comprehensive report that systematically explains the development of commercial mediation in China, while analyzing and summarizing local practices. Photo: Chi Jingyi/GT

 
As China becomes more engaged in international trade and is committed to opening up wider, business mediation for dispute resolution is playing an increasingly important role in commercial activities. China has been vigorously advancing its commercial mediation development, which has helped domestic and foreign companies resolve disputes in the country and overseas.

In order to meet the needs of opening-up and promote the development of international commercial mediation, China has promulgated a series of laws and regulations. Its influence in international commercial mediation has continued to rise in recent years, according to the Annual Report on Commercial Mediation in China 2022-2023 released by the Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Mediation Center on Friday.

The number of institutions that are capable of handling transnational or cross-border commercial mediation has continued to increase. Meanwhile, the building of joint mediation mechanisms between China and other countries has entered a fast track of development, read the report.

It is the first comprehensive report that systematically explains the development of commercial mediation in China, while analyzing and summarizing local practices, Cai Chenfeng, vice president of the CCPIT Mediation Center, said on Friday at a press conference for the release of the report.

Cai said that the CCPIT mediation center has so far signed cooperation agreements and established cooperative relations with 22 relevant institutions in Italy, US, UK, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and other countries and regions. 

Countries are attaching more and more importance to cooperation with Chinese mediation organizations, and the scope of China-overseas joint mediation is constantly expanding, Jiang Huiling, dean of the School of Law at Tongji University, said on Friday during the press conference.

"China has accumulated experience and practices that are worth promoting in the development of commercial mediation, including commercial mediation legislation, industry self-discipline, organizational construction and marketing," said Jiang.

In 2023, the mediation center under the CCPIT accepted 12,509 commercial mediation cases, with the value of the cases totaling 10.53 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). Of these, 1,273 were overseas-related commercial mediation cases, accounting for 10.18 percent of total cases, according to the report.

Some of the overseas-related cases involved disputes between overseas companies operating in China, as shown in the report.

These statistics and cases prove that China is opening wider and wider to the outside world, something the country has always been committed to, analysts said.

In the Central Economic Work Conference, a tone-setting meeting in December 2023, China stressed that it will continue to further open up with high quality and benchmark international standards, Pan Helin, joint director of the Research Center for Digital Economics and Financial Innovation, affiliated with Zhejiang University's International Business School, told the Global Times. 

The meeting also said that China will ensure that overseas-funded enterprises receive national treatment and promote fair competition, while further facilitating personnel exchanges.

China has been vigorously integrating into global commercial activities. For example, China's exports of goods accounted for 14.4 percent of the world's total goods exports in 2022, according to statistics from WTO.

A previous example of China's opening-up is the mediation center under the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, which handled 1,367 international trade dispute cases at the Canton Fair - China's oldest and largest trade fair - involving 120 countries and regions, read the report.