The close international civil and commercial exchanges and the continuous emergence of foreign-related civil and commercial cases require countries to speed up the free flow of extraterritorial judgments.A sound judgment circulation mechanism should not only take on the active responsibility of increasing the country’s reputation in the international community,but also take on the defensive responsibility of safeguarding national sovereignty and protecting the rights and interests of the parties.The principle of reciprocity,as one of the conditions for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments stipulated in Chinese domestic legislation,is necessary in the absence of treaties.However,the current principle of reciprocity in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments of China,legal provisions are vague and unspecific,and the applicable standards are strict and lagging behind the development of Chinese foreign-related civil litigation legal system.In judicial practice,there are insufficient adjudications and inadequate review of reciprocal relations related clauses.The phenomenon is in place,and some cases are wrongly applied to the principle of reciprocity.This makes it difficult for China and other countries to identify reciprocal relations,foreign judgments cannot be recognized and enforced in China,and it also hinders Chinese foreign-related civil and commercial exchanges.There are many reasons for the above problems.For historical reasons,China cherishes the lost national sovereignty and extraterritoriality.Over the years,the application of law has been slow to develop,and it is unwilling to respond positively to whether foreign judgments should be recognized and enforced by China.From the perspective of interest,when foreign countries have not recognized and enforced Chinese judgments or have not released an obvious message that they want to recognize and enforce Chinese judgments,China usually refuses to take a step forward and rejects them by applying the principle of reciprocity.In terms of legislation,the principle of reciprocity in China lacks specific legal provisions and the existing regulations are fragmented and unsystematic,and the principle of reciprocity has not yet played an incentive role.In terms of judicial practice,the strict factual reciprocity established in the judicial interpretation reply issued by the Supreme People’s Court has failed to keep pace with the times.For many years,the value of retaliation has been highlighted at the macro level,and national interests have been preset in judicial practice.With the gradual advancement of the “Belt and Road” construction,the attitude towards applying the principle of reciprocity in China is gradually changing.In the future,the principle of reciprocity in China will develop towards legal reciprocity and presumption reciprocity.In terms of legislation,China needs to further examine the status of the principle of reciprocity in the Civil Procedure Law,clarify the legislative goals and functions,improve legal provisions,and build a supporting system for identifying reciprocal relationships to guide the uniform application of judicial practice.In terms of justice,China needs to optimize the reasoning part of the judgment document that applies the principle of reciprocity to recognize and enforce foreign judgments,clarify the types of cases where the principle of reciprocity is applied,and change the situation of non-standard judicial practice in order to make Chinese judgments flow more smoothly in the international community. |