On September 19, 2017, the "2017 China Maritime Justice and Arbitration Summit" was Held in Beijing. This summit was co-host by the Supreme People’s Court, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT）, China Maritime Arbitration Commission（CMAC）,and supported by Dalian Maritime University, Shanghai Maritime University, China Maritime Law Association, China Shipowners Association, China International Freight Forwarders Association, China Diving and Salvage Contractors Association, China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, China National Shiprecycling Association, All-China Lawyers Association, China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry. A total of more than 400 people from courts, arbitration circles, business circles, lawyers, and academic institutions attended the conference. The opening ceremony of the summit was presided over by GU Chao, Secretary-General of CMAC. YIN Zonghua, vice chairman of CCPIT, and LIU Guixiang, member of the Supreme People’s Court judicial committee and Grand Justice of the second rank, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

In his opening speech, YIN Zonghua, vice chairman of CCPIT, fully affirmed our country's past achievements in maritime justice and maritime arbitration and the important role they played in promoting the development of China's shipping industry and foreign trade. He said that China is transforming from a major trading country to a powerful trading country, actively developing the maritime industry and marine economy, and accelerating the construction of the "Belt and Road". In this process, traditional maritime disputes and new types of maritime disputes are on the increase. Chinese and foreign parties' demands for maritime judicial protection and maritime arbitration services are also increasing. This has brought new opportunities and favourable conditions for the development of China's maritime justice and arbitration. As long as we meet the needs of the development of the situation and vigorously strengthen maritime justice and arbitration, we will be able to provide a strong guarantee for the implementation of the maritime power and the "Belt and Road" strategy, and we will definitely be able to promote China’s transformation from a major maritime judicial and arbitration power to a strong one. The transformation of a powerful country will realize the ambitious goal of building China into an international centre of maritime judicial and China Maritime Arbitration Commission into a world-class maritime arbitration institution as soon as possible.

LIU Guixiang, member of the Supreme People’s Court judicial committee and Grand Justice of the second rank, said in his speech that China’s maritime justice and maritime arbitration share common goals and pursuits, and both are committed to serving the society’s needs for dispute resolution and rights relief in a fair and efficient manner. The construction of the “Belt and Road” creates a high-quality, efficient, convenient and transparent legal environment. For a long time, the Supreme People's Court has consistently focused on giving play to the judicial support and supervision of maritime arbitration, and promoted the development of maritime arbitration. To build an international centre of maritime justice, firstly, we should improve the maritime legal environment as a whole, promote the construction of the Maritime Justice Centre and the Maritime Arbitration Centre in China. Secondly, we should strengthen research on issues, actively contribute to and develop and lead international maritime rules, Finally, we should vigorously strengthen the construction of informatization and intelligence and improve maritime judicial and maritime arbitration service capabilities. In the future, China's maritime justice and maritime arbitration will shoulder more important service guarantee functions for China's opening to the world, the construction of the "Belt and Road" and the development of global maritime trade.

The first topic of the summit is "the Construction of an International Maritime Justice Center under the Background of the 'Belt and Road'". Chaired by Professor SI Yuzhuo of Dalian Maritime University and doctoral supervisor, WANG Shumei, Deputy Chief of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court, LV Caixia, Chief Engineer of the State Oceanic Administration, SHAN Hongjun, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Communications, CHEN Bo, Deputy Secretary-General of the Secretariat of CMAC, CHU Beiping, Head of the Maritime Law Amendment Project Group, Dean of the Law School of Dalian Maritime University and FU Tingzhong, Professor of Tsinghua University, and Doctoral Supervisor respectively made excellent speeches titled "China’s Construction Targets, Goals and Prospects on International Maritime Justice Centre", "China's Maritime Law Construction and Prospects", "Several Dimensions that Should be Considered in the Construction of an International Maritime Judicial Centre", "Developing maritime Arbitration and Helping the Construction of an International Maritime Judicial Centre", "Amendment and Revision of Maritime Law and Construction of an International Maritime Judicial Centre and "Several Issues in the Construction of an International Maritime Judicial Centre".

The second topic of the forum is "The Latest Practice and Prospects of China's Maritime Trial and Arbitration". WANG Shumei, Deputy Chief of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court presided over the topic. YU Xiaohan, Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of the Supreme People’s Court, HOU Wei, President of the Environmental Resources Division of Wuhan Maritime Court, XIE Changqing, Director of the Business Development Division of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission, YANG Liangyi, Hong Kong Professional Marine Commercial and international trade consultant and SONG Dihuang, Director of Guangdong Wang Jing & Co (Beijing) Law Firm respectively gave speeches focusing on "Several Hot Issues in Maritime Trials", "Judicial Support and Supervision on Maritime Arbitration-Determination of the Validity of Arbitration Agreements and Anti-suit Injunctions", "New Developments, Characteristics and Practice Analysis of Arbitration Rules of China Maritime Arbitration Commission", "New Situation of Arbitration Practice under Hong Kong Law", and "Some Thoughts on China's Maritime Interim Measures System".

The theme of the third topic of the forum is "Sharing of Judgment Ideas and Practices in the Resolution of Major Maritime Disputes". CHEN Bo, Deputy Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission and Vice President of the Court of Arbitration, served as the host. SHEN Xiaoming, Chief of the Fourth Civil Division of the Zhejiang Higher People’s Court, NI Xuewei, Director of the Research Office of Guangzhou Maritime Court, HUANG Shungang, Shanghai SG &CO Law Firm founding partnership, Senior Partner ZHENG Lei of Shanghai Co-effort Law Firm, XU Shunguang, Senior Consultant of Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and LI Chenglin, Lawyer of City Development Law Firm, respectively gave speeches in the topics "Research on Difficult Issues of Ship Lien", "New Exploration of Several Issues in Maritime Parallel Litigation", "How about shipbuilding contract disputes in China's maritime arbitration?", "Common disputes in ship financing lease contracts and the application of law", "Resolving water sports disputes through arbitration procedures", "Analysis of PPP/BOT risks and dispute cases in offshore engineering projects".

The theme of the fourth topic of the summit is "The Management of Dispute Resolution Clauses and the Prevention and Control of Corporate Legal Risks in the Context of the'Belt and Road'." The moderator was WANG Chunge, senior consultant of China Merchants Group Co., Ltd.,. YE Hongjun, general counsel of China COSCO Shipping Group Co., Ltd., NIE Ying, inspector of the General Office of China National Aviation Corporation, LI Lianjun, partner of Reed Smith LLP and head of shipping lawyer team, LI Hongji, senior partner of Beijing Commerce & Finance Law Offices, gave a wonderful presentation on topics "A Preliminary Study of Passenger Transport Multimodal Transport", "Management and Practice of Disputes Clauses in the Context of the 'Belt and Road'", "Overseas Arbitration is Risky, so Choose Lawyers Carefully" and so on.

After a day of enthusiastic and intense discussions, the meeting came to an end in the still-in-expensive discussions. GU Chao, Secretary-General of the China Maritime Arbitration Commission presided over the closing ceremony.

This summit is a milestone conference in China's maritime justice and maritime arbitration circles. As a national-level professional maritime arbitration institution, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission will assume responsibility, forge ahead, and closely rely on the support of the Supreme People’s Court, the State Oceanic Administration, the Ministry of Communications, and the business community, the lawyers’ community and other broad social resources to actively promote the organization’s inner construction; promote the development and improvement of the maritime arbitration system; promote judicial assistance and support that is conducive to international maritime arbitration; strengthen the training of Chinese maritime arbitration talents and the building of arbitration culture; actively integrate into the international maritime arbitration governance, contribute to the national maritime arbitration industry’s enlarging and strengthening, and make due contributions to building an international maritime judicial centre and a powerful trade and maritime country.