This year marks the starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, with China's economy demonstrating resilience and positive momentum. High-quality development remains the core principle of the new era, and the rule of law constitutes the optimal environment for business. The plan outlines the construction of a law-based and credit-based economy. To highlight the efforts of courts nationwide in ensuring a strong start to the 15th Five-Year Plan and supporting high-quality development, the News Bureau of the Supreme People's Court has organized a media inspection tour themed "Judicial Safeguards for a Strong Start." The first stop was Guangxi, a key gateway for China's opening-up and cooperation with ASEAN. Reporters visited courts at various levels, industrial parks, border ports, and project sites to witness the region's legal framework supporting maritime development and open growth.

"We are truly grateful to the Yongning District Court for their work on behalf of the enterprise and the residents. It really showed us what it means to serve the people through justice. On behalf of our hundreds of residents, thank you!" said Lu Wengong, Party Secretary of the Nanning Yongning District Grain Reserve Depot. His sincere words drew spontaneous applause from the audience. Zhou Xia, Deputy Party Secretary and Vice President of the Nanning Yongning District People's Court, added with a smile, "Afterwards, he even sent us a banner—rare indeed, a banner from a judgment debtor to the court!" This heartwarming scene occurred during a symposium at the Yongning District Court. Recently, reporters accompanying the Supreme People's Court's media inspection team traveled through Guangxi to see how courts are removing obstacles for businesses and bolstering development confidence. The journey highlighted efforts to protect enterprise growth and sustain long-term economic vitality.

Protecting enterprise development requires addressing long-standing disputes directly. The issue traces back to 2015, when 112 units of resettlement housing for employees of the Yongning District Grain Reserve Depot were completed, allowing over 400 workers to move in. However, the contractor, Guigang Construction Company, failed to hand over completion acceptance documents. Without these documents, the residents could not obtain property ownership certificates, which are essential for matters such as children's school enrollment and property inheritance. The construction company, facing outstanding project payments from the depot and fearing that surrendering the documents would make payment collection even more difficult, refused to cooperate. With one party withholding documents and the other withholding final payments, the situation remained deadlocked for nearly a decade.

A judgment was issued in 2023, but enforcement stalled due to a complete breakdown of trust between the two parties. "We were affected by the external environment at the time," explained Liao Danping, a representative of Guangxi Construction Engineering Group Guigang Construction Decoration Co., Ltd. "Our company's capital chain broke, and we couldn't even pay workers' wages, let alone handle the completion acceptance procedures." The Yongning District Court found a breakthrough through the mechanism of deposit. The court acted as a neutral intermediary: the grain depot deposited the outstanding payment into the court's account, while the construction company submitted the completion documents to the court for oversight. With the court guaranteeing the process, both parties could proceed without fear of the other backing out. The decade-long impasse was finally resolved, allowing the construction company to clear its debts and complete the formalities.

"We were on the verge of confrontation then, but now I can sit and chat casually with Secretary Lu," Liao Danping remarked. Also present at the symposium was Jiang, the legal representative, executive director, and general manager of a Nanning engineering company. He recounted a contract dispute with Nanning Aluminium Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Alnan Group"). Alnan Group, a leading Guangxi enterprise, traces its roots to the Nanning Aluminium Plant, established in 1958 as one of the region's earliest aluminium ingot producers. Today, it specializes in aluminium alloy components for new energy vehicles and special construction projects. During a tour of Alnan Group's facilities, reporters observed rows of CNC machines and industrial robotic arms operating at high speed, with only a few workers overseeing the automated equipment—a clear sign of its production capacity. In contrast, the engineering company is a small enterprise. In early 2023, it signed an aluminium material supply agreement with Alnan Group but later faced financial difficulties, owing over 890,000 yuan in payments.

The court did not issue a simple judgment. The judges were well aware that ruling strictly in favor of Alnan Group could bankrupt the small company, while demanding immediate payment was unrealistic. "Thanks to the judges' persistent mediation, Alnan Group agreed to waive the penalty fees, and we only needed to repay the 890,000 yuan principal in installments over six months," Jiang said. Ultimately, the large enterprise secured its payments, and the small business survived. From the pending property certificates for 112 households to the 890,000 yuan payment dispute, the Yongning District Court addressed the real bottlenecks evident in market operations.

Preserving ecological assets is equally critical for long-term development. Departing from Nanning, the reporters visited Ningming County in Chongzuo City to observe the Huashan Rock Paintings across the Ming River. The ochre-red human figures on the opposite cliffs, with arms raised and legs bent in solemn postures, appear frozen mid-ritual. "Before written records existed, the Luoyue ancestors of the Zhuang people painted their social life and artistic imagination on these cliffs," explained Huang Xiaoning, Chief Judge of the Criminal Division at the Ningming County People's Court. The paintings, estimated to date from the Warring States to the Eastern Han period, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016. To protect this two-thousand-year-old heritage, the Ningming County Court extends its efforts beyond the paintings themselves. It has established a joint judicial service station with the procuratorate for ecological and cultural protection, issued judicial protection orders for ancient and famous trees, and promoted land restoration in ecological damage cases.

Huang Xiaoning recalled her first ecological restoration case in Ningming. In 2023, three defendants illegally excavated clay minerals from contracted land, selling them to a cement factory for profit. The illegal mining affected over ten mu of land, and the minerals were valued at over 600,000 yuan. The defendants pleaded guilty and fully compensated for the losses. However, the case did not end with punishment and compensation. The court continued to follow up on ecological restoration. A professional restoration plan required an investment of over 1.7 million yuan, far exceeding the defendants' capacity. After joint deliberation between the court and procuratorate, the defendants were permitted to carry out the restoration themselves. The court set strict conditions: the defendants had to complete re-cultivation and replanting within three years, replant trees on the original forest land, and grow crops on basic farmland. To prevent abandonment, the court mandated maintenance periods, vegetation survival standards, and restoration deposits as guarantees. Through persistent replanting, the drought-affected crops and trees eventually survived, and the damaged land was restored to greenery. For the Ningming County Court, every inch of restored ecological foundation strengthens the green wealth left for future generations.

Reducing judicial costs has been another focus. Previously, courts at various levels purchased equipment and built systems separately, leading to redundant investment and heavy maintenance burdens. Now, under the unified deployment of the Supreme People's Court, a nationwide "one network" case handling system has been fully implemented. The Guangxi Higher People's Court operates and maintains the online systems across the region through its digital information center. About 60% of information technology maintenance costs are covered by the higher court, significantly reducing the burden on intermediate and basic courts. Electronic case files are generated alongside physical ones, with filing, service, and trial processes flowing online, eliminating the need for physical file transportation. Vast amounts of judicial archives are stored in optical-magnetic storage, saving space and enhancing security. Integrated postal delivery speeds up document services, allowing judges to focus more on case handling. These innovations all serve one purpose: making courts faster, reducing waiting times for the public, and ensuring better value for money.

The Nanning International Commercial Court has launched an "ASEAN Legal Industry Language Database" to enhance efficiency. During a demonstration, reporters viewed a virtual legal consultant—a woman in a traditional Vietnamese long dress standing on a round, luminous stage with Vietnamese cultural scenes behind her. The screen displayed a message and audio player: "Hello, I am your Vietnamese legal consultant. I'm glad to serve you. Please feel free to ask me any legal questions." The system can also be switched to Vietnamese. Below, a list of queryable topics appeared: establishment of a Vietnamese limited liability company, foreign employees entering Vietnam for work, intellectual property landing in Vietnam, partnership relationships under Vietnamese law, and more. Dang Shu, Director of the Legal Research Center of the Autonomous Region's Department of Justice, explained that the AI entity's data comes from the ASEAN laws and regulations database within the language database. The database is built on legally collected official data from ASEAN countries and strictly follows a "three reviews and three proofreads" translation process to ensure authority and accuracy. Compared with general platforms, this database better mitigates the shortcomings of generic large models that may produce inaccurate recognition or generated content. Currently, the database covers seven languages: English, Vietnamese, Malay, Khmer, Lao, Thai, and Indonesian, encompassing core commercial law texts from 11 ASEAN countries.

When doing cross-border business, the biggest fear is not rising freight costs or tariff changes, but the inability to understand legal terms and regulations. These concerns for enterprises also pose challenges for courts handling foreign-related cases. One such challenge is ascertaining foreign law. Commissioning professional institutions to issue legal opinions can cost anywhere from tens of thousands to 200,000 yuan, along with significant time and expense. Last year, a dispute involving Chinese-Vietnamese durian trade came before the Nanning International Commercial Court. Li, who ran a durian processing plant in Vietnam, sued Lü and his trading company over unpaid goods. Li claimed the relationship was a sales contract and that he was owed over 1.48 million yuan, while Lü argued it was a partnership and that risks should be shared. The distinction between a sales transaction and a partnership would determine the financial outcome. Since the case involved Vietnamese law, traditional legal ascertainment methods were too time-consuming and costly. This time, the court used the "China-ASEAN Legal Consultation AI Entity." Inputting the case details, the system searched Vietnamese law in real-time and provided instant translations. Both parties gained, for the first time, a clear and verifiable understanding of Vietnam's trading rules and legal boundaries. The case was ultimately resolved through mediation.

What enterprises need most when going global is certainty—clear laws, understandable rules, and confidence to do business and invest. The shift from spending tens of thousands of yuan and waiting months for foreign law ascertainment to a one-click search with AI has transformed difficulty into simplicity. Reducing uncertainty in cross-border transactions is the most practical significance of judicial innovation. From the banner sent by a judgment debtor at the Yongning District Court, to the rejuvenated green land at the foot of Huashan, to the "Hello, I am your legal consultant" prompt at the Nanning International Commercial Court, the courts in Guangxi are doing far more than just adjudicating cases. They are protecting enterprises' prospects, conserving ecological assets, lowering judicial costs, and demonstrating the tangible benefits of technological investment. With bottlenecks removed and costs reduced, the path to development gradually broadens. In the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, Guangxi has delivered a remarkable answer to the question of how judicial services can support high-quality economic development.