On October 20, 2025, Hong Kong was brightly lit and the International Mediation Court was officially unveiled. Nearly 200 representatives from more than 30 countries around the world gathered in Central, Hong Kong to witness this symbolic moment.
This newly established international institution is not a subsidiary of the United Nations, but it has attracted a large number of signing responses, including countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.
The question arises as well: why can a new international organization with “mediation” as its core attract so many countries in such a short time?
Another approach for China
The background of the establishment of the International Mediation House is the constraints of the existing United Nations mechanisms and the long-term stagnation of reforms. Over the past decade or so, the United Nations Security Council has repeatedly reached deadlock in handling regional conflicts. Since 2011, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have focused on the upper reaches of the Nile River. The dispute over the dam has not yet been properly resolved;
During the Syrian civil war, Western countries have repeatedly circumvented the Security Council, and even the United States has vetoed it in the vote for Palestinian accession.
Such a reality has caused many countries to question the fairness and efficiency of the Security Council, especially in the face of major geopolitical conflicts, the Security Council is often paralyzed by the differences in the interests of the “five constants”, making it difficult to play its proper function of mediation and decision-making.
There are constant calls for reform, but implementation is far away. The expansion of the Security Council involves the allocation of permanent members, which in turn touches the fundamental interests of major countries.
Over the years, all parties have debated endlessly on issues such as whether to add new permanent members and how to allocate veto power, but there has been no success. The existing international governance structure is struggling and it is increasingly difficult to respond to contemporary diverse and complex global disputes.
It is against this background that China proposed to establish a brand-new international dispute settlement platform in 2022, not to replace the United Nations, but to provide a more flexible, neutral and effective supplementary mechanism.
On May 30, 2024, representatives of 33 countries signed the Convention on the Establishment of the International Court of Mediation in Hong Kong, marking the official transition of this initiative from concept to system. Hong Kong has become the headquarters location, which is not only a strategic choice for China, but also the international community's recognition of its legal environment and internationalization.
The establishment of the International Mediation Court is not a complete denial of the old order, but an attempt to "start a new stove." Outside the United Nations, China has joined forces with many countries to build a new "court" to provide a new communication platform for small countries that are unwilling to play between major powers.
The key to reconciliation.
Unlike traditional international courts or arbitration tribunals, the core function of the International Chamber of Mediation is not judgment, but mediation, and it does not condemn a loser or assign a liability, but through consultation and dialogue, seeking mutually acceptable solutions.
The “flexibility” of mediation is precisely where its advantages lie, and forced “judgment” is often opposed in many complex disputes involving historical complaints, national emotions or resource allocation.
For example, in territorial disputes or religious conflicts, it is difficult for a paper judgment to really solve the problem, but it may intensify the contradiction. Mediation provides a non-confrontational platform, and all parties can reach a consensus on the basis of confidentiality and voluntariness, which not only reduces the risk of confrontation, but also improves acceptance.
More importantly, this mechanism is more procedural flexible, avoiding the procedural rigidity of traditional judicial institutions and the “Western centralism” tendency.
In the past, some non-Western countries have frequently suffered losses in international arbitration, and many countries have questioned the neutrality of the international judicial system, while mediation is more dependent on neutral hosts to guide the dialogue, emphasizing cultural sensitivity and realistic compromise, and reducing the sense of institutional distrust.
China does not just stay at the conceptual level. Taking the Nile Dam dispute as an example, based on years of fruitless results at the United Nations, China has used bilateral and multilateral channels.
The three countries have been invited to hold several rounds of informal dialogues in Beijing and Addis Ababa, so as to push all parties to gradually reach a framework understanding on benefit distribution and information sharing. Although it has not been completely resolved, the tension has eased, showing the practical feasibility of the mediation mode.
In the context of today's fragmentation and confrontation of global governance, the proposal of mediation is an attempt to replace the path exploration of "fighting" with the "talk" approach.
Hong Kong Hospital
Why did the International Mediation Institute choose Hong Kong? From the perspective of legal system, Hong Kong, as a common law area, has a globally recognized legal system and mature arbitration service resources.
It has long been an important centre of legal services in the Asia-Pacific region, with a wealth of legal talents, language advantages and international business practices, and has established international institutions that can provide institutional guarantees and professional support for mediation.
From a strategic point of view, the establishment of the university in Hong Kong is an important step in China's promotion of localization of international rules, and the United Nations headquarters in New York has always been a symbol of U.S. global influence.
The settlement of the International Mediation Institute in Hong Kong is undoubtedly an institutional output of China's "new stove" in the field of international governance. It has won more international discourse space for China and made Hong Kong's position on the international stage more stable.
As an important source of investment, China naturally needs an effective mechanism to prevent and resolve potential contradictions and protect its overseas interests.
The data show that China's direct investment in the parties exceeds $200 billion annually, involving a number of key areas such as energy, transportation, and communications.
Once there are resources or border disputes between these countries that can affect not only local stability but also China’s projects, the establishment of an international mediation chamber is precisely the institutional tool for “early intervention” in these potential risks.
At the same time, this has also contributed to consolidating Hong Kong’s international position, which has been controversial in the international public opinion in recent years, but its advantages in financial and legal services remain attractive.
China supports Hong Kong's development of an international legal service center precisely to enable Hong Kong to find a new position in global governance. The establishment of the Mediation Court not only recognizes the advantages of Hong Kong's system, but also provides a new fulcrum for its "restart."
In an era in which the global order is being restored, the birth of the International Mediation House marks the rise of a new way of thinking, which is not to protest against the United Nations, but rather to provide another answer to problems that are difficult to solve due to the political impasse.
For China, this is an institutional initiative and a practical implementation of the concept of peace. From "talk" to "adjustment" and from "reduction" to "resolution." This change may not be noisy, but it is quietly changing the logic of international dispute resolution.
When the world increasingly needs consultation rather than conflict, perhaps, under the lights of Hong Kong, not only the legal debate, but also the consensus of the future is quietly brewing.
Source of information:
The International Mediation Academy was formally established and opened in Hong Kong and currently has 37 signatories 2025-10-20 22:12