China eyes maritime judicial center

China will create an "international maritime judicial center" to help protect its sovereignty and rights at sea, China's top judge said on Sunday. In a work report at the annual meeting of China's National People's Congress, Chief Justice Zhou Qiang said courts across China were working to implement a national strategy to develop China into a "maritime power." "(We) must resolutely safeguard China's national sovereignty, maritime rights and other core interests," he said. "(We) must improve the work of maritime courts and build an international maritime judicial center." Few details were provided on the judicial center, when it would start operating, its location or the kind of cases it would have jurisdiction over. Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity-Building at Peking University, told the Global Times that setting up such a center is necessary for China. However, Zhuang noted that the center requires a "top-level design" and proper training of maritime law experts. According to the chief justice, some 16,000 maritime cases were heard by Chinese courts last year, the most in the world. The country is also home to the largest number of maritime courts in the world, he added. Earlier reports said some 225,000 cases involving over 70 countries and regions had been handled by China's maritime courts from 1984. One notable case, Zhou said, involved the Chinese fishing boat Minxiayu 01971, which suffered damage in a collision with a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship in waters off the Diaoyu Islands in September 2014. The owner of the Chinese ship filed the case before the Xiamen maritime court in southeastern China, which ended in mediation. The case clearly demonstrates China's jurisdiction over the region, the chief justice said.