Recommended by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of China, Zhang Yongjian, a retired judge of the SPC, was appointed as an international judge at the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) for a term of one year from Jan 5, 2023, to Jan 4, 2024.

Zhang, 64, graduated from the China University of Political Science and Law in 1989, and received his Doctor of Juridical Science degree in civil and commercial law from Renmin University of China in 2007. He is an expert on court trials. He started as a judge at the SPC in April 2000, and served as presiding judge of the first, second and fourth civil divisions and as a member of the SPC’s judicial committee in the following years. In April 2017, he was appointed vice-presiding judge of the SPC’s First Circuit Court and a Grand Justice of the first rank. In June 2018, he was appointed as a judge of the SPC’s International Commercial Court, before retiring in 2019.

Since retirement, Zhang has served as an arbitrator of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission, the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and the Shanghai Arbitration Commission successively.

He has been an adjunct professor at the China University of Political Science and Law since September 2020, as well as a member of the Asian Business Law Institute since January 2016.