Economic Herald:
What new measures does the Ministry of Justice plan to introduce to support and guarantee the implementation of Belt and Road projects? Thank you.
Fu Zhenghua:
Thank you for your question. This issue is one of top priority for the Ministry of Justice and the National Office for Law Popularization.
We all know that the Belt and Road Initiative requires not only promotion of cooperation in projects and investment, but also in establishing legal safeguards. We staff members with judicial administrative organization at all levels have carefully studied General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and expositions, as well as decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee related to the Belt and Road. We will fulfill our duties and have actively committed ourselves to the implementation of Belt and Road Initiative. We will strive to provide legal services and safeguards for it.
Over the past year or so, we have carried out the following works:
First, the Ministry of Justice took the lead in convening the founding conference of the China-SCO Legal Service Committee and the first inter-ministerial joint meeting to vigorously promote the exchanges and cooperation of SCO members in the field of legal services and serve the development of regional economic and trade. It also aimed to provide legal safeguards for the Belt and Road Initiative. We also hosted the SCO Countries Forum on Legal Services.
Second, the Global Lawyers Forum (GLF) will be held in Guangzhou from Dec. 9 to 10. The All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) will hold a press conference soon to provide further information. At this GLF, we will also set up a new Belt and Road lawyers association, which was also initiated by the ACLA, and all the preparations for it have been made. The establishment of this association will create a favorable platform for cooperation among lawyers in countries along the Belt and Road. The GLF and the Belt and Road International Lawyers Association will promote China's image of a country under the rule of law. They will help build a new global platform for exchanges among lawyers and a more sophisticated global network for legal cooperation and partnership establishment.
Third, we vigorously encourage Chinese lawyers to expand business abroad to serve the companies as they "go global." From the end of last year, we have determined such a work direction, and comprehensively promoted Chinese lawyers to work in pushing forward the establishment of branches of Chinese law firms in overseas territories, accelerated the training of lawyers specially skilled in handling foreign-related matters, provided reliable legal services for key and major projects of infrastructure construction, strengthened the building of foreign-related public legal service platforms, carried out theoretical research on foreign-related legal services, promoted exchanges and cooperation with relevant countries and regions along the Belt and Road, and worked hard to further enhance legal compliance awareness among Chinese companies that seek to "go global", and provided precise and efficient legal services for construction of Belt and Road Initiative projects.
Fourth, we are actively promoting overseas publicity about the rule of law. We are strengthening foreign publicity of the rule of law, telling China's stories about enhancing the rule of law, and publicizing China's legal system in relevant countries and regions, especially those along the Belt and Road, in particular covering laws and rules about China's investment, trade, finance, environmental protection, etc. This is designed to ensure the countries and regions along the Belt and Road know and fully understand the operation of China's legal system. We are strengthening the rule of law education and legal training for Chinese enterprises as they "go global", so that they have a stronger sense of compliance and legality. We have also systematically compiled the laws, regulations and typical cases in the countries along the Belt and Road, to interpret the law by case studies, and improve awareness and ability of enterprises to use legal methods to solve problems. Thank you.
Yicai TV:
In recent years, the capital market has generally faced a problem of relatively low costs for violating the laws. How should the costs for violating the laws be raised in the future to form a deterrent of the law enforcement? Thank you.
Fu Zhenghua:
This issue is not closely related to today's topic. In my opinion, in the process of building the rule of law, we should not only hold those accountable for their illegal acts, but also ensure they face economic sanctions. This will increase the costs of their illegal acts and enhance the awareness of the whole society to respect, learn, obey and use the laws.
Hu Kaihong:
Today's press conference ends here. Thank you, Mr. Fu, Mr. Deng and Mr. Zong. Thank you everyone.
