On 5 November 2026, the much-anticipated 9^th China International Import Expo (CIIE) will grandly open in Shanghai.

Since the inaugural CIIE in 2018, lawyers including Li Zhiqiang, Founding Partner of Jin Mao Partners, have been selected into the CIIE Legal Service Volunteer Group of the Shanghai Bar Association. They have taken part in the CIIE legal service support work for nine consecutive years.

Three New Mandates for the Inaugural CIIE

From 5 to 10 November 2018, the much-anticipated inaugural China International Import Expo (CIIE) was grandly held in Shanghai. Serving as the finale of China’s four major home-grown diplomatic events that year, the open, innovative and inclusive CIIE drew the attention of renowned enterprises across five continents.

In his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the inaugural CIIE, President Xi Jinping stated at the outset: The China International Import Expo is the world’s first national-level import-themed expo to date, an innovation in the history of international trade. Hosting the CIIE represents a major decision made by China to foster a new round of high-standard opening-up, and a significant initiative through which China voluntarily opens its market to the world. It embodies China’s consistent position of upholding the multilateral trading system and advancing free trade, and constitutes a tangible action by China to advance the development of an open world economy and support economic globalization.

At the inaugural CIIE, President Xi announced that China would add a new section to the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, launch the Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with a pilot registration-based IPO system, and elevate the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta to a national strategy.

Benefiting from the opportunities unlocked by the CIIE, Jin Mao Partners was among the first to open a geographically affiliated branch in the Lingang Special Area. The firm has supported a cohort of science and innovation enterprises in their listing on the STAR Market and engaged in the rule-of-law practice for the Yangtze River Delta integration initiative. Starting from 2022, it has participated in the Yangtze River Delta Financial Rule of Law Symposium for five consecutive years, yielding a body of theoretical and practical outcomes in financial and foreign-related rule of law. Publications including Strolling through Wuhu, Envisioning Zhenjiang, Tides Surge along the Huangpu, and Legal Research on the Bund Financial Innovation Pilot Zone (2025 Edition and 2026 Edition) have been successively released to the public, earning acclaim from all quarters.

On 28 February 2026, at the 2026 Annual Conference of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association held in New Delhi, Lawyer Li Jian, Director of Jin Mao Partners (Lingang Special Area), was successfully elected Chair of the Officers and Publications Committee. He is the first mainland Chinese lawyer since the founding of the People’s Republic of China to serve as an officer of a major international legal organization, overseeing its publication and communications portfolio. Since assuming office, international publications under Li Jian’s stewardship have been issued on schedule. Business lawyers from various economies, including Chinese lawyers, engage extensively with specialist areas such as cross-border insolvency, intellectual property, cross-border litigation and international commercial negotiation. His circulated English articles reach audiences across economies, enabling the flower of mutual learning and exchange of rule-of-law civilizations to bloom across the globe.

Far‑reaching Spillover Effects; A Grand Gathering for an Auspicious Era

Coinciding with the inaugural CIIE, the IPBA Mid‑Year Council Bangkok Regional Conference convened as scheduled on 5 November 2018. H.E. Vissanu Krea‑ngam, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote address. In his subsequent English keynote speech, Lawyer Li Zhiqiang shared the joyous news of the inaugural CIIE’s opening, together with the Implementation Opinions on Developing Foreign‑related Legal Services in Shanghai, jointly issued by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice and eight other authorities. Article 11 of the document stipulates that “vigorous support shall be extended to the convening of the 2020 IPBA Annual Conference in Shanghai, so as to fully leverage IPBA as a platform for foreign exchanges of legal services, foster regular and in‑depth exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai’s legal profession and legal service communities overseas, and elevate the influence of Shanghai lawyers on the international stage.” This drew extensive attention from the global legal community.

The spillover effects of the CIIE have continued to unfold. Thanks to the robust backing of the Chinese Government and the full support of the Ministry of Justice and the Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai successfully hosted the landmark 30th Anniversary Annual Conference of IPBA on 19 April 2021. The Conference expounded and disseminated Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law to the international legal community, and fully showcased China’s achievements in reform, opening‑up and the development of its legal services sector. We Are Together, the bilingual conference anthem composed by Chinese musicians, resonated across the globe from China, conveying the legal ethos cherished by legal practitioners worldwide: “We uphold our original aspiration as one; though our bloodlines differ, we share a common pursuit; our hearts are linked, and our fellowship endures forever.” The successful staging of the Shanghai Annual Conference carries profound political, economic and social significance. It also fully demonstrates the cultural confidence rooted in China’s 5,000‑year‑old fine civilization and the sense of mission of a country that is moving closer to the centre of the world stage.

Following the successful Shanghai Conference, the stature and influence of Chinese legal practitioners on the global arena have risen markedly.

At the opening ceremony of the IPBA Chicago Annual Conference in April 2025, Chinese legal professionals performed the traditional dotting‑the‑eyes ritual for the lion dance. At the opening ceremony of the IPBA New Delhi Annual Conference in February 2026, they lit the ceremonial opening flame. At the LAWASIA Seoul Annual Conference in September 2026, Gao Zicheng, President of the All‑China Lawyers Association, was successfully elected to the Executive Committee.

Nine Years in Retrospect, Under the Steadfast Guardianship of the Rule of Law

Since the inaugural China International Import Expo (CIIE), lawyers from Jin Mao Partners including Li Zhiqiang, Shen Qin, Ou Long and You Guang have been actively engaged both inside and outside the CIIE. At negotiation forums and seminars, they have forged connections with merchants from across the globe, disseminated China’s legal norms, and projected the positive energy of Chinese lawyers in serving the open economy and advancing the Belt and Road Initiative.

During the 2nd CIIE, lawyers from Jin Mao Partners were invited to the 2019 Shanghai City Promotion Conference, where Li Qiang, then Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Ying Yong, then Mayor of Shanghai, took the stage to present Shanghai. Secretary Li Qiang also had an affable conversation with Li Zhiqiang. Senior officials including Liu Zhenyu, then Vice Minister of Justice, Yin Hong, then Deputy Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Politics and Law Commission of Shanghai, and Lu Weidong, then Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, visited the CIIE venue to inspect the work and extend their regards, bringing profound warmth to all present.

A renowned European multinational enterprise specializing in infant and childcare products first met the firm’s lawyers at the consultation desk of the inaugural CIIE. Deeply impressed by the patient counsel and earnest assistance rendered by Jin Mao Partners’ lawyers, the enterprise launched formal legal service cooperation with the firm after the 2nd CIIE. On the eve of the opening of the 9th CIIE, this perennial full-participant exhibitor once again appointed Jin Mao Partners as its legal counsel.

At the 3rd CIIE, a preeminent domestic food conglomerate entered into international import trade agreements totaling RMB 2.4 billion with well-known foreign enterprises from Denmark, Spain, Argentina and Italy. Li Zhiqiang was invited to witness the signing ceremony on-site. Legal professionals are poised to play a pivotal role in facilitating deal closure and galvanizing international trade.

The awarding ceremony for Shanghai International Trade in Services Demonstration Projects and Demonstration Bases was held at the 4th CIIE. Jin Mao Partners’ comprehensive training platform on overseas investment and financing legal information for the Belt and Road Initiative was accredited as a Shanghai International Trade in Services Demonstration Project, rendering the firm the sole law firm among all awarded entities.

At the 5th CIIE, Zhu Zhongming, then Deputy Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, shook hands with Li Zhiqiang during his pavilion tour.

Continuous service docking proceeded throughout the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th CIIEs, with trade in services expanding steadily year on year.

Over the two decades since China’s accession to the WTO, China’s economic aggregate has risen from the sixth to the second largest in the world. Its trade in goods has climbed from sixth to first place globally, trade in services has leapt from the eleventh to the second position, inbound foreign direct investment has consistently ranked first among developing economies, and outbound direct investment has surged from the twenty-sixth to the first worldwide.

Nine CIIE Sessions, Openness as the Overarching Theme

“Openness is a vital driving force for the advancement of human civilizations and an indispensable pathway to global prosperity and development.”

 “Let openness usher in a bright new prospect for global growth!”

    Director Shen Qin, a veteran practitioner admitted to the bar in 1990, remarked that, as Premier Li Qiang stated in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 7th CIIE, if the inaugural CIIE was a one-way invitation extended by China to the world, every subsequent edition has constituted a mutual covenant forged hand in hand between China and the rest of the globe. The CIIE has evolved into a showcase of China’s new development paradigm, a platform for high-standard opening-up, and an international public good shared by all nations.

Lawyers Ou Long and Chen Shuo, overseas returnees who have rendered repeated services for the CIIE, noted that the 9th CIIE features Canada among its Guest Countries of Honour. This month will also witness the third APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting hosted in China. China and all countries across the world are partners. Mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation ought to form the underlying melody of international economic and legal collaboration. As practitioners engaged in foreign-related rule of law, we shall strive to contribute further to advancing international economic and trade cooperation and facilitating exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign legal civilizations.

Amid a hundred boats racing down the current, those who ply the oar forge ahead; amid a thousand sails competing on the waves, those who press forward bravely prevail.

Let us look forward to successive editions of this magnificent CIIE gathering, year after year!