The nation's maritime court on Wednesday pledged efforts to build
China into an Asian-Pacific maritime law centre by 2010.
China is "one of the Asia-Pacific countries with the most maritime judicial
bodies and the strongest adjudicatory capacity," said Wan Exiang, vice-president
of the Supreme People's Court.
The Supreme People's Court is working on detailed measures and a timeline,
sources said.
Speaking at a seminar in Beijing, Wan said building up credibility is still
crucial to realizing that goal.
"The key lies in fair judgments which build up the authoritativeness (of the
Chinese maritime courts) among litigation participants both at home and abroad."
The call goes hand in hand with efforts by the Supreme People's Court to make
local courts fair and efficient.
China has 10 maritime courts along its coast and the Yangtze River, one of
the nation's busiest water courses.
Last year, they handled nearly 9,700 cases, statistics show. This represented
a huge jump from the several dozens handled per court every year when the courts
where first created two decades ago.
"We should note there is still room for growth in cases involving overseas
litigants," said Cao Jianming, also vice-president of the Supreme People's
Court.
By the end of last month, such cases took up less than 14 per cent of the
total caseload.
Different from the people's courts whose jurisdiction coincides with the
administrative reach of governments on different levels, the 10 maritime courts
are cross-provincial and have effectively warded off local protectionism.
More than 70 per cent of the judges have at least a four-year college
education and are among the best in the nation.
Still, said Cao, maritime legislation is also needed.
Apart from further developing laws on oil pollution and shipping, such pieces
of legislation as the Maritime Law also need revision, he said.
China set up the first maritime courts in 1984, amidst booming maritime
transportation and trade generated by the opening-up policy.
