Shenzhen Declaration calls for stronger global legal cooperation　

The China Forum on International Legal Cooperation 2026 concluded in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, on Wednesday with the adoption of the Shenzhen Declaration.

The two-day forum, hosted by the China Law Society, brought together nearly 300 jurists and legal practitioners from 38 countries and seven international organizations.

The declaration calls on legal communities worldwide to deepen cross-border legal cooperation, uphold the UN-centered international order and true multilateralism, oppose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and strengthen global digital and artificial intelligence governance so that the rule of law can keep pace with rapid technological and social changes.

It underscores the importance of multilateralism and the rule of law in addressing profound shifts in the international landscape, while highlighting the need to reform international legal systems to make them fairer, more transparent and more inclusive.

Participants also discussed the distinctive contributions of China's legal tradition, which is deeply rooted in the country's historical and cultural heritage.

Key areas highlighted in the declaration include the alignment of international rules, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the development of cross-border legal services. It calls for greater legislative coordination, judicial collaboration and law enforcement cooperation to enhance the effectiveness of global governance.

On international trade and commercial disputes, the declaration opposes unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction and emphasizes the importance of a WTO-centered multilateral trading system. It also calls for improved mechanisms for resolving international commercial disputes.

The declaration further advocates stronger global digital governance to foster an open, cooperative, fair and secure digital era. It commits parties to implementing the Global AI Governance Initiative and promoting the alignment of rules governing artificial intelligence and other digital fields, while strengthening mechanisms to protect digital intellectual property and resolve digital disputes.

Shenzhen, a high-tech innovation hub, provided a concrete example of such efforts at a parallel session themed "Global Rule of Law in the Digital Age", where the forum released the white paper Shenzhen Practice of AI Judicial Application.

According to the paper, Shenzhen's courts have developed what it describes as the world's first systemic AI application covering all major litigation types and the entire adjudication process, from case-filing review and file verification to trial assistance, case analysis and document drafting.

The system was launched in June 2024 and expanded to administrative and criminal cases later that year. It now covers more than 90 percent of case types in civil, administrative and criminal litigation.

The white paper stresses that AI should remain an auxiliary tool in judicial proceedings. It can assist judges but cannot replace them, and its use must be "explainable, traceable, reviewable and controllable".

Liu Zhuang, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law, said Shenzhen's courts were among the world's earliest to apply large language models systematically to judicial work. He described the "Shenzhen model" as an example of AI being provided as a public good while remaining under the courts' control.

Since its launch in 2019, the forum has developed into "an important platform for strengthening international dialogue on the rule of law", the declaration said.

It concludes by calling on jurists worldwide to champion equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations.