China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the China Law Society called on countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to improve international rules-based systems and to establish dispute settlement mechanisms to fairly protect the rights of all parties, according to a statement from a forum on BRI legal cooperation. The parties participating in the BRI are encouraged to promote laws to enhance cooperation related to financing, taxation, transportation, intellectual property rights, labor and counter-terrorism.

The statement also proposed the establishment of treaty-based mechanisms or institutions to prevent and resolve disputes and to strengthen mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, and establish an online platform that provides information on foreign laws and judicial cases. Kong Xuanyou, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Chen Jiping, Executive Vice President of the China Law Society, were co-chairs of the BRI forum on legal cooperation.

Government officials and experts attending the forum said that dispute settlement mechanisms should be transparent and fair to all countries. Qu Guangqing, President of Quanzhou Normal University in Fujian Province, told the Global Times that to ensure fairness and transparency, dispute settlement mechanisms should be established and led by third-party international organizations rather than dominated by one country. The forum, jointly held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the China Law Society, attracted more than 350 delegates from governments, international organizations and academic institutions. Nearly 90 countries and international organizations have signed Belt and Road Initiative cooperation agreements with China. China has invested USD70 billion in Belt and Road projects in other countries.

Simon Peh, Commissioner of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), has urged local investors to shun corrupt overseas business deals when joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), warning of rampant bribery in some countries. “The corruption situation is very serious in some countries,” he said. “Bribery is everywhere. It is beyond our imagination as such practices have been rooted out of Hong Kong for a long while.” The BRI, announced five years ago, seeks to boost economic and infrastructure links across more than 60 countries in three continents, including the 10 ASEAN member-states. Peh said 13 Belt and Road countries including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had approached the ICAC for help with training officials since last September.