On January 3, 2025, the Party Branch of the Maritime Administrative Tribunal of Guangzhou Maritime Court (GZMC) and the Party Branch of the Public Interest Litigation Department (Fifth Procuratorial Department) of Zhongshan People's Procuratorate jointly held a themed Party Day event titled "Safeguarding the Blue Ocean." This initiative aimed to promote marine ecological civilization through Party-building leadership. Chen Youqiang, Party Secretary and President of GZMC, met with relevant officials from Zhongshan People's Procuratorate.

During the meeting, both sides reviewed and summarized the handling of the public interest civil litigation case initiated by Zhongshan People's Procuratorate against two companies regarding marine environment. This case was the first public interest civil lawsuit regarding marine environment filed by a municipal-level procuratorate after the revised Marine Environmental Protection Law came into effect. By leveraging an information-sharing mechanism, piloting a "three-in-one" adjudication model, utilizing expert resources, and applying the advantages of a specialized maritime court for cross-regional trials, the agency effectively addressed challenges such as difficulties in case initiation, adjudication, appraisal, and accountability in public interest litigation regarding marine environment. This case serves as a practical exploration toward improving the system of public interest litigation regarding marine environment. Both sides also jointly studied the Measures of Guangdong Province for the Transfer of Ecological Environmental Damage Restoration to Government Authorities for Supervision (Provisional), issued by the High People's Court of Guangdong Province in collaboration with the People's Procuratorate of Guangdong Province and eight other agencies. Their discussions were focused on enhancing judicial-execution coordination, covering labor compensation, off-site restoration, and carbon fee compensation. Additionally, both sides witnessed the oath-taking ceremony of probationary Party members from the Maritime Administrative Tribunal.

President Chen Youqiang emphasized that conducting themed Party Day activities through Party Branch co-learning and joint initiatives between the judicial and procuratorial agencies, along with discussions on optimizing the working mechanism for public interest litigation regarding marine environment, is a concrete step in implementing the guiding principles from the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee's directives on improving the public interest litigation system. He highlighted the innovative format and positive outcomes of this approach, stressing its necessity. He further noted that exploring a comprehensive system of public interest litigation regarding marine environment and establishing a replicable and scalable working mechanism is of significant importance to the construction of a Beautiful China and marine ecological civilization. President Chen called for stronger coordination between judicial and procuratorial agencies to fully leverage their respective functions, legally protect marine natural resources and ecological environment, and provide high-quality judicial and prosecutorial services for the "Maritime Power", "Beautiful GBA", and "Green, Beautiful Guangdong" initiatives. The goal is to establish a distinctive Guangdong brand of public interest litigation regarding marine environment and achieve the effect of "handling one case, influencing an entire region."

This themed Party Day event exemplified how judicial and procuratorial agencies use Party-building to strengthen institutional development and enhance operations, while fostering a regular communication and coordination mechanism for marine environmental protection. It has inspired the Party branches of the judicial and procuratorial agencies to enhance their strengths in political functions, leadership, Party members and roles, strengthen Party discipline, improve judicial capabilities, and fulfill their responsibilities and missions. These efforts will provide strong judicial and prosecutorial support for Guangdong's pursuit of Chinese modernization.

Wu Guining, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of GZMC, and Ye Hong, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Chief Procurator of Zhongshan People's Procuratorate, attended the event. They jointly signed the Opinions on Strengthening Cooperation in Public Interest Litigation Regarding Marine Natural Resources and Ecological Environment Protection.