Chinese judiciary pledges to serve Chinese modernization

BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese courts and prosecuting agencies will strive to serve Chinese modernization, particularly the country's high-quality development, Chief Justice Zhou Qiang and Procurator-general Zhang Jun said Tuesday.

Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), delivers a work report of the SPC at the second plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

A justice system with modernized capacity will contribute to Chinese modernization and provide powerful judicial services for building a modern socialist country in all respects, Zhou said when delivering a work report of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) at the ongoing session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC).

The country's high-quality development needs high-quality judicial service, Zhou added.

The SPC plans to issue guidelines to improve business environment for the private sector. Chinese courts will take resolute actions to protect legitimate property rights and interests of private businesses and entrepreneurs, according to the SPC report.

Judicial policies will be upgraded in terms of property rights, market access, fair competition and social credit to facilitate the development of a national unified market, while judicial protection of intellectual property rights will be intensified and actions taken to contain monopoly and unfair competition. Courts will also better serve the country's higher-level opening up by building the capacity of foreign-related justice system.

Zhang Jun, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), delivers a work report of the SPP at the second plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

When reporting the work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) at the NPC session on the same day, Zhang also pledged that prosecuting agencies will fully leverage the rule of law to facilitate high-quality development.

Serious economic crimes will be punished to the full extent of the law, and prosecuting agencies will support innovation-driven development and enhance protection on intellectual property rights, Zhang said.

Both courts and prosecuting agencies have made notable progress in serving the country's economic development over the past five years, in terms of business environment, economic security, market competition and higher-level opening-up.

From 2018 to 2022, wrong verdicts of 209 major criminal cases involving property rights had been corrected, and 290 business operators acquitted.

"All enterprises were treated equally no matter whether they are state-owned or private, domestic or foreign-funded, small or big," Zhou said.

During the same period, courts across the country concluded 95,000 foreign-related commercial cases and 76,000 maritime cases. A total of 10 special courts were established to handle international commercial disputes.

China prosecuted 13,000 people over crimes concerning the rights of trademarks, patents, copyrights and commercial secrets in 2022, a 51.2-percent rise from 2018, according to Zhang.

Over the past five years, a total of 621,000 people were prosecuted over disruption of market and economic order, up 32.3 percent from the previous five years.

Prosecuting agencies also endeavored to protect the legitimate rights of both Chinese and foreign parties when handling more than 20,000 foreign-related criminal cases in the five years.

High-quality development in China is in great need of supports and services from judicial agencies, and the agencies should also continue streamlining and reforming themselves, said Tang Weijian, a professor with the law school of Renmin University of China.

"I believe that the prospect for socialist rule of law in China will have a brighter future, and so is Chinese modernization," said Tang, also a deputy to the 14th NPC.