China improves foreign-related legal services for high-quality opening-up

China has improved its foreign-related legal services in a bid to achieve high-quality opening-up of the country, said an official with the Ministry of Justice of China at a press conference held in Beijing on Friday.

Yang Xiangbin, director of the Bureau of Public Legal Services Administration under the Ministry of Justice of China, briefed the media on measures China has taken to help lawyers better carry out foreign-related legal services.

The Ministry of Justice has been strengthening the country's foreign-related legal services, especially the services provided by lawyers, who are an integral part of China's legal service system. China strives to safeguard high-level opening up with high-quality foreign-related legal services, said Yang.

"We have been nurturing world-class law firms. We support and guide a group of foreign-related law firms with strong comprehensive strength to quickly join the ranks of top international ones. Cooperating with relevant departments, we will improve policies and supporting measures to encourage Chinese lawyers to 'go abroad.' Compared to 2018, the number of overseas branches of Chinese law firms has increased by 69.6 percent, or nearly 70 percent, playing an active role in strengthening the rule of law security chain that protects China's overseas interests," Yang said.

"We continuously strengthen the training of foreign-related legal professionals. The Ministry of Justice has held three advanced seminars for foreign-related legal talents and 10 training courses for public and corporate lawyers specializing in foreign-related legal services, guiding the national bar association to conduct foreign-related legal service training courses for lawyers, training more than 1,400 lawyers in total. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, we have implemented a master's program for legal postgraduates specializing in foreign-related law, enrolling and training nearly 1,500 individuals," said the director.

China also actively promotes the pilot program for lawyers practicing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. According to Yang, China organized the first examination this year for Hong Kong legal practitioners to practice law in the Greater Bay Area following the extension of the pilot period.

"We value the role of Hong Kong and Macao lawyers in foreign-related legal services. The Ministry of Justice has taken the lead in establishing a legal service consultation mechanism for the Greater Bay Area, promoting the training and exchange cooperation of legal service talents in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. To date, the Ministry of Justice has successfully held four exams, with more than 1,800 lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao registering to participate, and 482 have obtained the lawyer practice certificate in Greater Bay Area," Yang said.

Through the pilot program, a batch of Hong Kong and Macao lawyers with rich cross-border legal service experience have joined the mainland legal team, significantly enhancing the capacity and level of foreign-related legal services, and playing a positive role in ensuring high-quality development and high-level opening-up, he added.

China improves foreign-related legal services for high-quality opening-up

Chinese contestants secured the top spot at the 47th WorldSkills Competition medal tally by winning 36 of the 59 gold medals, as the competition concluded in Lyon, France on Sunday night.

In addition to their gold medals, the Chinese team won nine silvers, four bronzes and eight medallions of excellence. They also achieved their fifth successive championship in CNC Milling and forth successive championship in the Bricklaying and Fashion Technology, respectively.

Two Chinese participants in the Industry 4.0 competition were honored with the prestigious Albert Vidal Award for achieving the highest overall score in the event.

"We won gold medals in 36 of the 59 events in the competition. We made many breakthroughs this year. We maintained our leading position in Manufacturing and Engineering Technology and Construction and Building Technology. And we also made breakthroughs in Information and Communication Technology and Social and Personal Services, which is really not easy," said Wu Liduo, deputy head of the Chinese delegation.

At the closing ceremony, the WorldSkills flag was officially passed from Lyon to the Chinese city of Shanghai, which will host the 48th edition of the competition.

This year's event, held on Sept 10-15 with the events running on Sept 11-14, drew around 1,400 participants from nearly 70 countries and regions to compete in the 59 skill categories. Sixty-eight Chinese contestants participated in all the skill categories.

China tops 47th WorldSkills Competition medal tally