Top court studies setting up of international expert committee

China is working to set up a committee of international commercial experts to help foreign and domestic litigants solve legal disputes, the Supreme People’s Court said on Thursday.

The central leadership approved a guideline on establishing the Belt and Road International Commercial Disputes Resolution Mechanism and Institution in January, and the nation's top court said it has pushed forward with the plan.

"We're ready to select specialists — including in international law, global business and investment — from around the world, and will then set up an international commercial expert committee to provide professional and efficient resolutions for litigants," said Liu Guixiang, who sits on the top court's Judicial Committee.

"The expert committee will help litigants in international commercial disputes mediate with each other, and it will offer advice to Chinese courts when they encounter difficulties with foreign laws during trials."

How to select the experts and how the expert committee should operate are being studied by the top court, he said.

Liu said two international commercial courts mentioned in the guideline — in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Xi'an, Shaanxi province — will be unveiled this week.

The guideline aims to help people effectively and transparently solve international commercial disputes as well as play a role in improving judicial cooperation with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, involves creating trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.