On July 7, 2017, the 17th Seminar on the Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Arbitration jointly organized by CIETAC and the Chinese Arbitration Association, Taipei (CAA) was held in Suzhou. Wang Chengjie, Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of CIETAC, Li Nien-Tsu, Honorary Chairman of CAA and Han Wei, Deputy Secretary General of the Suzhou Municipal Government attended and addressed the seminar. Wang Gang, Director of Complaint Coordination Department of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Xiao Tiejun, Deputy Chairman of CCPIT Jiangsu and Wang Zhiming, Chairman of CCPIT Suzhou attended the seminar. Over 100 representatives from the legal academic community, business community and arbitration institutions of Mainland China and Taiwan attended the seminar.

Wang Chengjie warmly welcomed the participants from Mainland China and Taiwan in his opening remarks. He pointed out that CIETAC and CAA are both Influential, credible, widely recognized and welcomed professional arbitration institutions across the Straits. The series of institutional cooperation between CIETAC and CAA have really promoted the exchange of arbitration cross-Straits and been welcomed by communities of economic and trade cross-Straits.

In recent years development, the quantity and quality of CIETAC cases have both risen, showing a strong foreign-related character and a high level of internationalization. Focusing on leading hot issues in cross-Strait economic and trade arbitration, this Seminar explored the important role of arbitration in the cross-Strait economic and trade development under the B&R Initiative, promoting more enterprises to choose arbitration to settle disputes and better defend their legitimate rights and interests. Wang expressed the hope that by discussing and communication, both sides can promote common view and the widespread application of arbitration in communities of economic and trade across the Straits, constantly improving mutual confidence in investment between the Mainland and Taiwan.

Li Nien-Tsu, Honorary Chairperson of CAA expressed in his opening speech that Jiangsu province is the most important gathering place of Taiwan businessmen, and the investment of Taiwan capital in Jiangsu province presents the prominent characteristics of large scale, high technology and high support power. CIETAC and CAA started to jointly organize economic and trade arbitration activities from 2001, and have completed important cooperations such as promoting cross-Strait arbitration mechanisms, mutually providing arbitration legal advice, training arbitrators from both sides, establishing the panel of arbitrators across the Straits and so on.

He expressed that B&R Initiative brings new development opportunities for Taiwan businessmen, and he hoped that CIETAC and CAA could further deepen exchanges and cooperation, and under the macro perspective of B&R provide high quality arbitration service and efficient risk management service for enterprises across the Strait, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprises.

Han Wei, Deputy Secretary General of Suzhou Municipal Government, pointed out in his opening remarks that the seminar is an important mechanism for cross-Strait legal communities to discuss hot issues and share successful experience. Suzhou is one of the cities that gather most Taiwan enterprises, attract most Taiwan capital and are of the most developed Taiwanese economy. The topic of this seminar is highly time sensitive and forward-looking. Han hoped that enterprises from Suzhou and legal service institutions could learn from this seminar the advanced practices and valuable experiences of Taiwan business in overseas investment, PPP and dispute resolution measures.

Under the chairmanship of Wen Guomin, CIETAC arbitrator from the Mainland, and Tiffany Huang, Director of CAA from Taiwan, experts and scholars from both sides discussed the new observation of dispute resolution under the OBOR Initiative, cross-Strait PPP (promoting participation) dispute settlement practices and cross-Strait DAB/DRB systems, from the view of Mainland and Taiwan respectively. Speeches and views of experts from both sides were incisive and profound, providing professional opinions for cross-Strait business enterprises on the potential legal risks and the effective settlement measures.

In 2001, CIETAC and CAA reached the consensus of "jointly holding seminars in the Mainland and Taiwan by turns", and established a cooperation mechanism accordingly. Through the long-time endeavor, the Seminar has become a platform for the exchange and cooperation between the cross-Strait communities of professionals in the field of arbitration, law and business and has played a significant role in promoting the positive development of the cross-Strait economic and trade relationship.