Media Release: Supreme Court of Singapore and Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China to develop legal infrastructure in support of the belt and road initiative

The 3rd Meeting of the Working Group of the Supreme Court of Singapore (SupCt) and the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was held virtually on 20 Oct 2021 as a precursor to the signature annual Singapore-China Legal and Judicial Roundtable (Roundtable). This year’s Roundtable will be held on 3 December 2021, via video conference.

2. Justice Steven Chong, Justice of the Court of Appeal, SupCt, and Justice Yang Wanming, Vice President of the SPC, co-chaired the Working Group meeting. 10 other participants comprising Judges and senior officials from both Supreme Courts attended the meeting.


Co-Chairs of the Working Group, Justice Steven Chong (left) and Justice Yang Wanming (right), in discussion at the Working Group meeting.

Developing the Legal Infrastructure to Support the Belt and Road Initiative

3. Towards the broader arc of developing the legal infrastructure to support the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the two judiciaries discussed key initiatives including the conceptual approach to developing model clauses for the BRI Dispute Management Framework. The two judiciaries also discussed ideas engendering convergence and unification of legal standards for commercial matters, harnessing synergies from the strategic collaboration between the Singapore Judicial College and the National Judges College of the PRC towards advancing continuing judicial education.

4. In addition, the two judiciaries re-affirmed their commitment to maintain strong ties and further strengthen judicial cooperation, as COVID-19 becomes endemic in the world today.

About the SupCt – SPC Working Group

5. The SupCt - SPC Working Group was established in 2018 under the leadership of Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon of SupCt and Chief Justice Zhou Qiang of SPC. The Working Group plans for the annual Roundtable and identifies areas of judicial cooperation between the two courts, with a focus on developing the legal infrastructure for the BRI. The inaugural meeting of the Working Group was held in 2019 in China, while the second meeting in 2020 was held via video conference, hosted from Singapore.

21 OCT 2021
SUPREME COURT OF SINGAPORE