In December 2022, two companies involved in a construction project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) resolved a long-standing dispute at the Beijing International Commercial Tribunal (BICT).
The two companies had worked together in the construction of a large hydropower project in Botswana in southern Africa a few years ago. In 2021, disputes arose concerning excessive noise from mechanical and electrical equipment, as well as contract payment issues totaling almost 60 million yuan ($8.34 million), following the project's completion and commissioning.
Mei Yu, a senior judge at the BICT specializing in foreign-related commercial matters, handled the case. She organized multiple rounds of evidence exchange between the parties regarding technical issues, such as the excessive noise. Leveraging her bilingual skills, she contacted and searched for technical documentation in both Chinese and English to identify the root cause of the problems. However, the case involved overseas assessment, which presented significant operational challenges, a high time cost and no guarantee of a definitive conclusion.
Mei suggested that both companies focus on supporting the projects under the BRI to improve the image of Chinese enterprises abroad. She encouraged them to debug and update the equipment in question, collaboratively address technical challenges and continue to promote subsequent cooperation for mutual benefits.
Facilitated by the court and through multiple rounds of negotiations, the relationship between the two companies gradually warmed up, and they eventually resolved their differences. They not only reached a comprehensive settlement agreement for the case, but also reached a consensus on deepening future cooperation. The settlement agreement was implemented in January 2023.
This case is one of the over 1,000 international commercial disputes mediated and resolved by the BICT in recent years. Since taking over the centralized jurisdiction of foreign-related commercial disputes in 2018, the BICT has concluded nearly 700 commercial cases involving countries and regions participating the BRI, with a total settlement amount exceeding 8 billion yuan. The dispute resolution rate through mediation reached 40.63 percent, with more than 500 million yuan involved. This resulted in an average of 42 percent in the time saved for the parties in dispute resolution.
The new court was set up as a division under the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People＇s Court, as the intermediate court has specialized in handling capital-related commercial disputes involving overseas litigants since 2018...
