With the increasing number of cases filed by foreigners, China is considering providing legal services in English. The top court's initiative is aimed to assisting aliens file cases easily.

According to Jiang Qibo, the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Case-Filing Tribunal, several courtrooms located near coastal areas have already cooperated with interpreters to aid non-locals file litigation.

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With the increasing number of foreign investors, particularly to the Pudong district of Shanghai and Yiwu, Zheijang Province, Jaing emphasized the necessity to establish a countrywide lawsuit service platform in a widely accessible language.

"These courts have built up an interpreter database to serve and guide foreigners who file cases. Judicial documents in English can be supplied for foreigners," Jiang said. "We'll study examples of serving foreigners from these courts and try to establish a unified lawsuit service platform in English and extend it across the country to satisfy foreign litigants promptly." 

Beijing international school administrator Ada Jen admitted that it is hard to settle proceedings "because of few resources about Chinese laws and legal procedures are translated into English."

Speaking from her personal experience, she claimed that to interpret judicial papers, she had to visit educational institutions like Peking University. Thus, she supports the idea to create platform, where foreigners can get assistance.

Under China's law, foreigners are given the same rights as citizens if their complaints are reported in the People's Republic. Nevertheless, Jiang claimed that since region-wide coverage of the service platform can be difficult to achieve, hiring legal consultants who can communicate in Chinese and English, and is also knowledgeable of the judicial system, can help solve the problem.

However, Tian Lan, the vice president of Hefei Intermediate People's Court, made it clear that translators have no direct association with the court, "but we can provide legal services as well as courts in areas where foreign-related cases are booming." 

In addition, foreigners without Chinese legal consultants can be seek guidance from university volunteers and judges who were educated abroad. 

Meanwhile, in Hefei court's Case-Filing Tribunal, chief judge Zhang Haiqing said that foreign appellant can initially submit papers and they can file lawsuits after verification. She further added that they can provide brochures, signs and guidelines in English to make procedures comprehensible.  

Tagslegal service, Lawsuit, English, foreign investors, China courts, China Legal Services in English