34 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 MARCH 2024 social and public interests. “The court supported our requests, confirmed that it was against the law for the bureau to fail to effectively perform its duties. This case is of great significance to give full play to the public interest litigation role of law firms.” Chen also says that as the Yangtze Belt strategy moves ahead, regions along the Yangtse River have been tightening environmental regulation, which has led to a large number of environmental resource cases which touch on areas such as environmental pollution liability investigation, ecological damage compensation, environmental public interest litigation, etc. Such cases have in turn triggered high demand for legal services. Sunshine Law Firm has represented many central enterprises in such public interest lawsuits during the development of new energy projects. “These litigations have strong environmental technical requirements. Our firm enjoys the advantages of ‘industry + professionalism’ and can work with third parties to tackles challenges during disputes.” In addition, the Yangtze River, as a continuous body of water, especially needs coordinated protection by different coastal administrative regions. Legal professionals similarly play an important role in this process. “The Yangtze Belt spans multiple provinces and regions, leading to complex legal coordination issues in terms of water resource protection, cross-border transfer of pollution, ecological compensation, etc. Law firms can provide legislative and policy advisory services for government departments, focusing on giving professional opinions on cross-regional collaborative legislation, judicial collaboration, the construction of dispute resolution mechanisms, etc.,” says Chen. Wang shares the same view: “The implementation of the Yangtze Belt strategy requires the participation and cooperation of multiple stakeholders, including governments, businesses, social organizations, etc., to form a community of professionals. We can fully display our own advantages in this community to jointly promote the green development of the Yangtze Belt.” ENERGY Environmental protection and energy transition are closely related. The Yangtze Belt, with rich coal power and hydropower resources, as well as rapidly developing new energy industries such as wind power, photovoltaics, and hydrogen energy, plays a key role in building a new energy system and safeguarding China’s energy security. In cities along the Yangtze River, energy-related legal services have always played an important role in a firm’s business. With the new Yangtze Belt strategy, “the emphasis on making joint efforts to protect the environment and avoid large-scale development dictates that energy projects must pay more attention to compliance requirements and raises the bar on professional and comprehensive legal services,” explains Chen. She shares several representative deals that Sunshine Law Firm has been involved in over recent years. CNNP Rich Energy Co., is the professional platform responsible for the development, construction, and operation of non-nuclear clean energy within China’s nuclear power system. It is an important business unit within the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to achieve “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” goals and has regional companies in many provinces along the Yangtze River. “We have provided services for nearly 40 merger and acquisition projects of CNNP Rich Energy, involving 75 transaction targets. The projects are mainly for centralized photovoltaic, wind power, composite photovoltaic and energy storage, and cover Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei and other important provinces along the Yangtze Belt.” “These projects involve rather complex compliance issues. As the acquirer, CNNP Rich Energy faced heavy compliance requirements imposed on listed companies. Our firm fully disclosed risks during due diligence while also providing solutions for relevant risks during negotiations.” In addition, since 2020, Sunshine Law Firm has been advising the Zhejiang Electric Power Trading Centre. “With the continuous development of Zhejiang’s power market and constant changes in trading rules and mechanisms, we have supported the Zhejiang Electric Power Trading Centre in compliance system construction and risk prevention, and designed and improved the compliance management system that reflects the characteristics of a power trading institution.” TECH INNOVATION Another important channel for the Yangtze Belt strategy to achieve sustainable development is to facilitate economic transformation and upgrading. According to the Global Innovation Index 2021 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Changsha, Suzhou, Chongqing and Hefei along the Yangtze Belt have been selected in the top 100 global science and technology clusters, playing the important role of sources and gathering places of innovation in China and even globally. The Yangtze Belt strategy will create even greater room to dream for the technological innovation capabilities of these cities. According to Wang, guided by the Yangtze Belt strategy, Jiangsu Province, Nanjing and Suzhou in particular, has achieved remarkable results in developing industries related to technological innovation. “Nanjing and Suzhou boast robust scientific research, development and innovation capabilities. In the past few years, the two cities have made breakthroughs in technological R&D, high-end manufacturing, information technology and other fields, as well as progress in new materials, new energy, etc.” “Law firms and lawyers are involved in this process, providing legal support while expanding the service scope and capabilities of lawyers at the same time.” With the support of innovation, Wang also observes that “Nanjing and Suzhou have made significant inroads in promoting the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. The two cities have provided a favorable development environment for tech enterprises by establishing tech parks, incubators and other platforms. At the same time, they also facilitate cooperation among industries, academia and REGIONAL REPORT
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