On January 29, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Justice held the launch ceremony for a series of foreign-related legal service initiatives under the theme “Strengthening Legal Services to Safeguard Enterprises’ Cross-border Growth” at the Kunming Central Legal District. This marks a crucial step for Yunnan in systematically strengthening a foreign-related legal service system, optimizing the law-based business environment, and serving high-standard opening up. The Department of Commerce of Yunnan Province, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Yunnan Provincial People’ Government, the Yunnan Federation of Industry and Commerce, and the Yunnan Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese co-organized the event. Representatives from the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan Province, the Investment Promotion Bureau of Yunnan Province, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Yunnan Sub-council, a number of provincial state-owned enterprises, and provincial-level chambers of commerce from other provinces such as Zhejiang, Fujian and Sichuan gathered together to discuss the overall plan for safeguarding cross-border development with foreign-related legal services.

Yunnan is now seizing the strategic opportunity to build itself into a gateway radiating toward South and Southeast Asia. As the Belt and Road Initiative progresses and RCEP takes full effect, cross-border trade and investment have become increasingly dynamic and large in scale. However, the complex international environment, disparate legal systems and regulatory rules have exposed enterprises to multiple risks and challenges in the process of "going global", including investment access, labor rights and interests, tax compliance, contract enforcement and international sanctions. Meanwhile, attracting high-quality foreign investment places higher demands on Yunnan's legal environment. In this context, strengthening foreign-related legal services has become a strategic support and urgent task for ensuring the high-quality economic development of the whole province, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, and enhancing international competitiveness.

The new initiatives directly address companies’ legal needs in cross-border operations, serving as a practical starting point for Yunnan to empower opening-up development with legal services. The event was pragmatic and efficiently organized, focusing on enterprises’ most pressing concerns. Company representatives candidly shared real challenges from their cross-border operations, while legal experts analyzed cases, explained frequent risk points — such as investment access, labor and tax compliance, contractual obligations, and sanctions — and offered professional guidance on legal issues of concern to foreign investors. During the interactive exchange session, enterprises conducted efficient demand matching and Q&A with government departments and experts. The in-depth and substantive on-site communication have fully forged a consensus and resolve among all parties to improve Yunnan's foreign-related legal service capacity and safeguard the steady cross-border development of enterprises.

As an important functional department for the construction of the rule of law, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Justice announced that it would take this initiative as an opportunity to unite all co-organizers and partners to enhance the province’s overall capacity in foreign-related legal services. It would focus on four key areas:

Platform Upgrading: strive to build a "resource pool" for foreign-related legal services, supporting professional institutions such as the Kunming Legal Service Center for South and Southeast Asia to integrate domestic and foreign resources, deepen country-specific research, and become a reliable "navigation for going global" and "think tank for attracting investment" for enterprises. Talents Development: accelerate the construction of a "main force" for foreign-related legal services, and collaborate with all parties to cultivate compound talents proficient in international rules and familiar with foreign laws. Service Innovation: Smooth the "connection chain" of foreign-related legal services, promote the establishment of a regular mechanism for collecting and feeding back demands, and provide pre-positioned services such as "legal physical examinations" and compliance guidance. Collaborative Mechanisms: Weave a solid "safeguard network" for foreign-related legal services, deepen coordination with departments such as commerce, state-owned assets supervision and administration, federations of industry and commerce, and federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and build a new pattern featuring "guidance by judicial and administrative departments, support by inter-departmental linkage, services by professional institutions, and active participation by enterprises". The meeting also initiated a call for enterprises to firmly establish a sense of compliance, make good use of professional forces, actively feed back demands, and jointly build a solid legal risk defense line for cross-border operation.

The initiative also represents a key step for the Kunming Central Legal District to give play to the agglomeration effect of legal services and empower opening-up development. In the follow-up, various forms of foreign-related legal services activities such as thematic matchmaking sessions, targeted guidance, and legal popularization will be continuously carried out to achieve deeper and more solid results. It will make precise and professional foreign-related legal services a reassurance for enterprises' cross-border development, effectively respond to the specific legal needs of enterprises in cross-border development, and strive to build a brand of foreign-related legal services with Yunnan characteristics that radiates to South and Southeast Asia.

This event has not only built a legal service matching platform for enterprises' cross-border development, but also marked a new step in the construction of Yunnan's foreign-related legal service system. Taking this activity as a starting point, all parties will pool the joint efforts of the government, enterprises and research institutions, continuously improve the capacity and level of foreign-related legal services, inject strong confidence in the rule of law and professional support into safeguarding the steady "going global" and high-level "bringing in" of enterprises with high-quality legal services, strengthening the rule-of-law foundation for developing an open, modern economy and contributing to Yunnan’s chapter of Chinese modernization.

(Editors:Vivian, Rachel)