China is accelerating the launch of its first national foreign-related legal service platform to deliver high-quality, efficient legal services to Chinese enterprises and citizens overseas, said an official of the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Wu Yanjun, vice minister of justice, said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), the Ministry of Justice will coordinate legislative projects covering areas such as international civil and commercial judicial assistance, overseas labor cooperation, and overseas project contracting, thereby accelerating the expansion of the toolkit of laws related to foreign affairs.
"This year, the first nationwide platform for foreign-related legal services has been preliminarily established. It aggregates a wealth of resources urgently needed in practice, such as foreign legal texts, legal guides covering specific regions and countries as well as exemplary cases and information on service providers, striving to deliver high-quality, efficient legal services in foreign affairs to Chinese enterprises and citizens overseas," said Wu.
"In our next step, we will accelerate the platform's official launch, deepen the development of the arbitration center for international commercial disputes, and support more law firms and arbitration institutions operating abroad. Through multifaceted measures, we aim to build a foreign-related legal service system characterized by the integration of online and offline channels and the linkage between domestic and overseas operations," said Wu.
China moves to launch first national foreign-related legal service platform: official
With the Pinglu Canal in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region officially open to shipping, Yangpu Port in south China's Hainan Province will fully leverage the policy and geographical advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) to accelerate its development into an international shipping hub, further connecting the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor with global markets.
The canal stretches along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a strategic trade route connecting China's inland regions with ASEAN and other global markets. It is the first river-to-sea canal project planned and coordinated at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Located in the northwest of the island province, Yangpu Port is the deep-water port closest to the main international shipping routes in the Beibu Gulf, and is also one of the maritime outlets of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.
The opening of the Pinglu Canal to navigation has opened up a new sea-river intermodal transport corridor for goods entering and leaving the southwestern region, and has also brought new opportunities to some enterprises.
At a petrochemical enterprise in Danzhou City, robotic arms are bagging and packaging chemical products on a conveyor belt, and these goods will be shipped to southwest China's Guizhou Province and other places.
Most of this enterprise's customers in the Chinese mainland are concentrated in the southwestern Chinese provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou. At present, the enterprise is adjusting its future shipping plans in response to the logistics changes brought by the opening of the Pinglu Canal to navigation.
"We plan to shift about 70 percent of our goods to this new sea-river intermodal transport corridor, and overall logistics costs are expected to drop by 30 to 40 percent. Next year we also plan to build another plant in Hainan, which will allow us to take advantage of the free trade port's policies, import raw materials from places like Indonesia, and after processing, sell the products to the southwestern region or re-export them. This is expected to add about 200,000 tons of production capacity," said Wei Jianqiang, head of Hainan Oxiranchem Co., Ltd.
Behind the enterprises' expansion of production and the busier flow of goods, there is also the upgraded service support made possible by the opening of the Pinglu Canal to navigation. In this regard, the relevant authorities have also made full preparations.
"After the Pinglu Canal opens to navigation, we will strengthen safeguard measures in areas such as facilitating the entry and exit of container ships on fixed routes, credit-based regulation, and cross-regional coordination," said Jiang Yufeng, head of the Xiaochantan Maritime Patrol and Law Enforcement Brigade, Yangpu Maritime Safety Administration.
Pinglu Canal underscores growing role of Yangpu Port as int'l shipping hub
