The 2nd Forum of Hongkou • Legal Service Guaranteeing the North Bund’s High-quality Development, co-hosted by the Comprehensive Law-based Governance of the District under the CPC Hongkou District Committee and East China University of Political Science and Law, opened at Leicester Institute of Technology on November 8.
The forum continued the theme of "legal services guaranteeing high-quality development of the North Bund" of last year, based on the strategic goal of the North Bund of Shanghai and the Golden Triangle of the Huangpu River, and organized discussions on the profound significance of legal protection and regional development, and the deep integration of Fengqiao’s experience and the social governance system of joint construction, co-governance, and sharing. All this aimed to fully absorb and draw on the achievements of theoretical research and cutting-edge practices of the Chinese-style legal modernization, and accelerate its transformation into a sustainable driving force for promoting the law-based governance of Hongkou, continuously optimizing the regional and legal business environment, and promoting the development of the North Bund.
Lu Ming, Deputy Party Chief and Governor of Hongkou District, and Professor Guo Weilu, Party Chief of East China University of Political Science and Law, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony of the forum. Lu Ming said that the rule of law was an important indicator of urban soft power and core competitiveness. We should respond to the propositions of the times with profound insight, keen judgment, and foresight, empower and increase efficiency for better practice of the cooperation mechanism of judicial office, police station, and law firm, and help accelerate the development and construction of the North Bund.
Guo Weilu said that East China University of Political Science and Law conducted some theoretical research on Fengqiao’s experience in recent years. Next, it would focus on social welfare, continuously provide intelligence for regional development, and jointly explore the modernization of grassroots governance in megacities with the CPC Hongkou District Committee and the Hongkou District Government.
Liu Guoqing, Vice District Governor and Director of the District Public Security Bureau, released and interpreted the "Three-Year Action Plan for the North Bund International Legal Service Port (2024-2026)", showed the strategic plan in the innovative legal service ecosystem formed in the process of Hongkou accelerating the building of the Asia Pacific Arbitration Center and the Shanghai International Legal Service Center. The theme of the main forum was as follows: adhering to and developing Fengqiao’s experience in the new era - the development of the conflict resolution mechanism characterized by the cooperation of the judicial office, police station, and law firm in Hongkou. The attending guests watched a promotional video on the above mechanism for resolving conflicts and disputes, which comprehensively showed the practical achievements of the mechanism innovatively established in Hongkou since 2022 in building a defense line for resolving conflicts at the source, serving the regional grassroots social governance, and meeting new demands and expectations of the people. Luo Zhenchuan, Deputy Party Chief and Deputy Director of Shanghai Public Security Bureau, and Zhang Yi, Party Committee Member of Shanghai Judicial Bureau, respectively, delivered speeches on behalf of Shanghai Public Security Bureau and Shanghai Judicial Bureau. They said that the cooperation mechanism of judicial office, police station, and law firm was the latest development of Fengqiao’s experience in a megacity according to local conditions, and it was the most prominent positioning for the continuous improvement of the modernization of social governance and the continuous enhancement of legal services guaranteeing high-quality development.
The keynote speech was presided over by Professor Ren Yong, Dean of the School of Government Management of East China University of Political Science and Law, and Executive Dean of the Chinese-style Modernization Research Institute. Professor Xu Yong from Central China Normal University gave a keynote speech on the theme of "Cooperation of Judicial Office, Police Station, and Law Firm and Priority of Social Governance" at the forum. Professor Jiang Xiaoping of Sichuan University, Professor Zhang Lei of Northeast University, Professor Jin Bozhong of the Chinese-style Modernization Research Institute, and Professor Li Xiang of East China University of Political Science and Law respectively carried out in-depth exchanges on the theoretical connotation of the successful practice of the cooperation of judicial office, police station and law firm in Hongkou, the priority of social governance value, the coordinated governance of grass-roots society, the improvement of the cooperation system of judicial office, police station and law firm and the preventive legal system.
The two roundtable forums focused on Hongkou’s practice and theoretical research of the cooperation mechanism of judicial office, police station, and law firm for resolving conflicts and disputes. The attending guests, based on practice, shared their thoughts and insights on using the mechanism to resolve conflicts and disputes in practice from different perspectives of the sub-district Party working committee, police station, judicial office, and law firm. Experts, scholars, and professors from Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the Party School of the Municipal Party Committee, according to the actual work for the cooperation mechanism of judicial office, police station and law firm in Hongkou, also expressed their opinions on the dialectical relationship between the practice innovation of the mechanism and urban culture, legal concepts, and other aspects in response to a megacity’s governance, and proposed optimization suggestions from the aspects of improving systems, implementing responsibilities, building platforms, and providing technological support.
Professor Han Qiang, Vice President of East China University of Political Science and Law and President of the Chinese-style Modernization Research Institute, made a summary and comment for the main forum that efforts should be made to further strengthen the mechanism from the theoretical level, actively build a grass-roots governance community, and constantly promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.
Finally, Ding Bojie, Deputy Party Chief of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Municipal Party Committee, delivered an outlook speech for the forum. She said that the building of the rule of law was a systematic project, and the cooperation mechanism of judicial office, police station and law firm carried the wisdom and efforts of all grassroots workers. The mechanism for resolving conflicts and disputes was a fruitful result of the exploration of the rule of law practice in Hongkou. She hoped that Hongkou would firmly grasp the political direction, continue to practice the rule of law thinking and the mass line, continuously strengthen the development of the mechanism, and further provide Hongkou’s better schemes for the resolution of conflicts and disputes in the city.
Based on the first Forum of Hongkou · Legal Service Guaranteeing North Bund High-Quality Development held last year, Hongkou actively summarized useful suggestions from various sectors of society for the regional legal construction, and transformed them into the regional grassroots governance and empowered the regional high-quality development, and achieved practical results in work. This year, Hongkou held the second forum to continuously build an important exchange platform that integrated the wisdom of rule of law construction, consolidated the joint efforts of legal construction, and demonstrated the effectiveness of legal guarantee.
The forum was held through a combination of online and offline methods. Yan Zuqiang, Head of the First Tour Supervision Group of the Theme Education of the CPC Shanghai Committee, attended the meeting for guidance. Jiang Renhui, Standing Member and Organization Director of the CPC District Committee, Xuan Yizhou, Standing Member of the CPC District Committee and Party Chief of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Xiao Kai, President of the District People's Court, and Sun Jun, Prosecutor General of the District People's Procuratorate, attended the meeting. Also attending were comrades from the First Tour Supervision Group of the Theme Education of the CPC Shanghai Committee, officials from the district’s committees, offices and bureaus, political and legal agencies, and sub-districts, as well as experts, scholars, and legal representatives.