A China-ASEAN top forum on legal cooperation and development opened in Nanning on Sep. 1. Over 100 legal experts and law operators from China and nine ASEAN member states, including Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines, gathered.

Legal experts all agreed that it is very pressing for China and ASEAN countries to set up mechanism for legal changes and cooperation, in order to help resolve trade disputes and promote the construction of China-ASEAN free trade area (FTA).

 Feliciano Bautista, executive vice president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said the deepening of ASEAN-China cooperation may also lead to some problems which need to be settled according to law.

  President of China Law Society Han Zhubin held that the current forum should be set as a China-ASEAN long-term mechanism for legal exchanges. Countries can conduct legal seminars, lectures under the framework of the forum, and arrange high-level visits of the legal circle.