The London Circuit Commercial Court enforced a Chinese judgment at common law, rejecting the judgment debtor’s arguments that it was not final and conclusive and that the Chinese proceedings had breached natural justice.
Mr Xiong Wei brought a derivative claim in China for the benefit of Wenda Co Ltd against Ms Wang Junhong, a former director and senior employee. The dispute concerned the transfer to Ms Wang of shares in Wenda’s English subsidiary, Syner Ltd. The Dalian court ordered Ms Wang to pay Wenda US$2,129,116 plus interest. Her appeal to the Liaoning High Court was dismissed, as was a later application for a retrial.
Wenda and Mr Xiong sought to enforce the judgment in England. Ms Wang resisted enforcement on the basis that a further supervisory application in China meant the judgment was not final and conclusive. She also argued that the Liaoning High Court’s treatment of an auditor’s report submitted with her retrial application offended natural justice.
<span class="news-text_medium">Finality of the judgment:</span> The English court held that the Chinese judgment was final and conclusive. The supervisory application had been rejected before the English judgment was given. The court added that, even while that application was pending, the possibility of a retrial had not displaced the judgment’s binding effect between the parties. A foreign judgment can be final and conclusive for English enforcement purposes notwithstanding the possibility of further challenge.
<span class="news-text_medium">Natural justice:</span> Ms Wang did not allege that she had been denied a fair hearing at first instance or on appeal. The auditor’s report was available for use on appeal, but she had not submitted it then. When she later sought a retrial, she did not invoke the ground expressly available for new evidence. The English court held that the Liaoning High Court was not required to consider an unraised ground on its own initiative and had not acted contrary to natural justice by deciding the application as presented.
The court therefore rejected both defences and granted the claimants relief enforcing the Chinese judgment at common law.
The decision distinguishes a pending or possible extraordinary challenge from a judgment’s present finality. It also illustrates the narrow role of a natural justice objection: English enforcement proceedings are not an opportunity to reopen the merits of a foreign case where the judgment debtor had a fair opportunity to present the relevant evidence.
<span class="news-text_medium">Case:</span> <span class="news-text_italic-underline">Xiong Wei & Anor v Wang Junhong [2026] EWHC 1892 (Comm)</span>, 24 July 2026 (Andrew Hochhauser KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge).
