| 10. | Termination and Release of Pledge |
After the Pledgors and Party C fully and completely perform all Contractual Obligations and discharge all Secured Liabilities, the Pledgee shall, at the request of the Pledgors, release the Equity Pledge under this Agreement as soon as practical, and cooperate with the Pledgors in deregistering the Equity Pledge recorded in the register of shareholders of Party C and the pledge deregistration with the Registration Authority.
| 11. | Handling Fees and Other Expenses |
All expenses and actual expenditures in connection with this Agreement, including but not limited to attorney’s fees, costs of production, stamp duties, and any other taxes and expenses, shall be borne by Party C. If the Pledgee is required to bear some relevant taxes and expenses under applicable laws, the Pledgors shall cause Party C to repay the Pledgee in full for the taxes and expenses paid accordingly.
| 12. | Confidentiality Obligations |
The Parties acknowledge that, any oral or written information exchanged among them with respect to this Agreement shall be confidential information. Each Party shall keep the confidentiality of all such information, and shall not disclose any of the relevant information to any third party prior to the written consent of other Parties, except for the following cases: (a) the public is or will be aware of such information (other than being disclosed to the public by the Party receiving such information); (b) the information is required to be disclosed under applicable laws or the rules or regulations of any securities exchange; or (c) any Party needs to disclose the information to its legal or financial advisors with respect to the transaction contemplated under this Agreement; provided, however, that such legal or financial advisors shall also comply with the confidentiality obligations similar to this Article. The disclosure of any confidential information made by the staff or institution engaged by any Party shall be deemed as the disclosure of such confidential information made by such Party, and such Party shall be held liable for violation of this Agreement. This article shall survive the termination of this Agreement for any reason.
| 13. | Applicable Laws and Dispute Resolution |
| 13.1 | The execution, validity, construction, and performance of this Agreement and the resolution of disputes under this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of China. |
| 13.2 | In the event of any dispute arising from the construction and performance of the provisions of this Agreement, the Parties shall first resolve such dispute in good faith. If the Parties fail to reach an agreement in resolving such dispute within 30 days after any Party’s request to the other Parties for resolving the dispute through negotiation, any Party may submit the relevant dispute to China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission for arbitration in accordance with its arbitration rules then in effect. The arbitration shall be conducted in Beijing, and the language to be used in the arbitration shall be Chinese. The arbitration award shall be final and be binding on all Parties. |
8