China steps up efforts to cultivate international legal talents

The education of foreign-related legal talent will be further strengthened, as schools, judicial departments and enterprises have decided to join hands to increase efforts in this field, officials said.

They expressed the expectation about the construction of foreign-related rule of law at a conference co-hosted by the China University of Political Science and Law and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice in Chaoyang district on Saturday.

During the conference, the university signed a cooperation agreement on collaborative education of foreign-related rule of law talents with the district and judicial authorities, and launched a base to jointly promote the education.

Jiang Zeting, chair of the university council, said that the base will be developed into a place where students can access legal and business training and practice, thereby improving their professional skills in both sectors.

"We'll actively promote China's transition from being an adapter of international rules to being a leader in global governance, providing new growth poles and strong strategic support for the country's construction of foreign-related rule of law," he added.

Chaoyang has been focusing on building a core carrier area for an international commercial arbitration center, and has preliminarily established an integrated ecosystem for the full-chain development of commercial dispute resolution services, according to Wu Xiaojie, the district head.

He emphasized that the base is an important measure to further deepen cooperation between schools and enterprises, saying "it will help improve the foreign-related legal environment and enhance foreign-related legal services".

"We'd like to jointly create a high-level hub for foreign-related legal talents, a high-capacity foreign-related legal think tank and an efficient commercial arbitration center, so as to offer more solid legal guarantees for high-level opening-up and high-quality development," he added.

Cui Yang, head of the capital's justice bureau, said that it will concentrate on the construction of the base through a deep integration of research, education and application, in an effort to provide higher-level services for the training of foreign-related legal talents and the development of foreign-related legal system.

"Our goal is to help Beijing become a global venue for legal resources and a preferred destination for resolving international commercial disputes," she added.

Du Jiangbo, general counsel of Sinopec Corporation, was appointed as one of the first practical mentors of the base. In his view, the selection, education and utilization of foreign-related legal talents are the needs of the times, and the foreign-related rule of law requires not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical experience.

"I will share with students the cases and experiences in legal and business affairs, as well as in the compliance operations and risk control from Chinese enterprises' 'going global' and the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative," he added.