Press Release: The Fourth Singapore-China Legal and Judicial Roundtable

The 4^th Singapore-China Legal and Judicial Roundtable (the “Roundtable”) was held today. The Roundtable was co-chaired by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and the President and Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Zhou Qiang.

2. For the first time since the inaugural event in 2017, the 4^th Roundtable was conducted entirely in a virtual format. Traditionally, the Supreme Court of Singapore and the SPC take turns to host the Roundtable, with both Chief Justices leading a delegation to attend the event either in China or in Singapore.

4^th Singapore-China Roundtable Continues to Boost Bilateral Ties and Expand the Potential of the Courts’ Relations

3. In the midst of the challenging circumstances brought about by the global pandemic, the two courts renewed their commitment to work together to advance access to justice in their respective jurisdictions. The Roundtable kicked off with a bilateral meeting during which the two Chief Justices had a frank and constructive discussion to deepen existing joint initiatives and explore new areas of cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

4. This was followed by the sharing of best practices and experiences from Judges from the Supreme Court of Singapore and the SPC. They exchanged insights in the following areas:

• Sharing the Courts’ Best Practices in Dealing with Covid-19 / Challenges Covid-19 Posed to the Courts and the Profession,
• How to Unify the Legal Application Standards Through Similar Cases and Precedents,
• The Application and Limitation of General Legal Principles in International Commercial Disputes, and
• Court Procedural Rules – Features Relevant to the Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI”)

5. Welcoming the videoconference as a ‘virtual bridge’ for the two courts’ commitment to legal and judicial cooperation via the annual Roundtable platform, Chief Justice Menon and Chief Justice Zhou affirmed the warm and longstanding friendship between the two courts.

Launch of Joint Publication “A Compendium of Singapore–China International Commercial Cases Curated for their Relevance to the Belt and Road Initiative”

6. Both Chief Justices launched a title jointly published by the Supreme Court of Singapore and the SPC. The Compendium is the culmination of a dedicated team effort by a stellar panel of editors as well as expert commentators from Singapore and China, coordinated by the Singapore Judicial College and the China National Judges College, to curate international commercial cases from both Singapore and Chinese courts that are relevant to the BRI. The Compendium symbolises the deep commitment of both courts in the pursuit of mutual understanding of each other’s laws and legal systems, and there are also plans to make this available in the public domain as an invaluable introduction to learn more about, and to explore the commonalities between the commercial laws of Singapore and China.

SUPREME COURT OF SINGAPORE

30 NOVEMBER 2020