China starts issuing pilot electronic Apostilles: spokesman

China's newly launched pilot program for electronic Apostille certificates took effect on Wednesday, marking China's latest effort to streamline cross-border circulation of public documents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing in Beijing on the same day.

The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, or the Apostille Convention, became effective in China in 2023.

The Convention is to simplify the procedures for the cross-border circulation of official documents and facilitate international economic and trade and personnel exchanges.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is the government agency responsible for managing and issuing Apostille certificates for public documents issued in the Chinese mainland.

Guo said that the latest step, a move encouraged under the Convention, will further enhance the efficiency.

"The relative measure is the latest step taken by China to streamline cross-border circulation of public documents. After the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the Convention) entered into force in China in 2023, the verification procedure of cross-border circulation of public documents between China and other contracting countries was significantly simplified from a 'dual legalization' process to requiring only an Apostille. To make the process more efficient, our Ministry began issuing pilot electronic Apostilles today, a measure encouraged by the Convention," Guo said.

Guo introduced that the reform will slash the time and economic costs associated with the cross-border circulation of official documents between China and other countries.

"The pilot program fully eliminates off-line application procedures. When filing for public documents, the applicants can simultaneously apply for and acquire electronic Apostille online, which means they no longer need to go through any off-line procedures at consular authentication agencies. What’s more, the electronic Apostille supports online verification, thus enabling the applicants and agencies using the documents to enjoy better and more efficient service of cross-border document circulation. This measure will save Chinese and foreign nationals and businesses significant amounts of time and cost and offer tangible convenience," Guo said.

Guo added that the first pilot program will provide electronic Apostille for the Certificate of Origin issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). In the future, it will gradually expand to cover the various types of public documents issued in China. Guo reminded to refer to the official websites of the Ministry and China Consular Service for detailed specifications as to how to apply for an electronic Apostille.

The Apostille Convention was concluded on Oct 5, 1961 in Hague and entered into force on Jan 21, 1965.

Currently, 125 contracting countries joined in the Convention, accounting for about three-fifths of the total number of countries and regions in the world. They include countries in the European Union, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and other major trading partners of China, and the majority of countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

China starts issuing pilot electronic Apostilles: spokesman

China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.

Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.

Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.

"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.

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