SPECIAL REPORT
Legal Reform
“The ultimate goal should be the restoration of judicial legitimacy.” NewsChina discusses the Party’s judicial reform agenda with leading experts Zhang Weiping and Chen Weidong, who argue that success will only come if China’s courts and judges are made more independent, more accountable, and more professional By Wang Quanbao
W
hen President Xi Jinping made a high-profile pledge to “allow the people to sense justice in every legal case” in early 2013, he raised hopes that his administration would take reform of China’s troubled legal system seriously. During the recent Third Plenum in November, the Communist Party of China (CPC), which directly administrates the national judiciary, unveiled an ambitious reform agenda which it claimed would “curb the bureaucratization” of the justice system, which has become infamous for miscarriages of justice and official interference in court proceedings. NewsChina met with law professors Zhang Weiping of Tsinghua University, and Chen Weidong of Renmin University of China, both key members of the Political and Judiciary Commission under the Party’s Central Committee, China’s top legal authority, to ask if and how the new reform agenda will be put into practice. NewsChina: Why has the Third Plenum highlighted legal reform, and appeared to endorse this as its priority issue in terms of implementation? Zhang Weiping: One of the most serious problems in Chinese society is social instability caused by the failure of the legal system to deliver justice and resolve disputes. In past decades, the Chinese government has tried to maintain social stability through economic development. However, while economic growth offers a bigger “cake,” a healthy legal system is needed
48
to fairly distribute it. Unfortunately, due to widespread corruption, a lack of independence, poor efficiency and low levels of professionalism, China’s legal system has failed. As the judiciary is rapidly losing public credibility, the authorities have realized that swift and bold reform is needed. NC: What are the biggest problems with China’s judiciary, and how will these be addressed? Chen Weidong: One major highlight of the legal reform [agenda] is to curb the external influence of local authorities over the court system. One primary problem with China’s judiciary is that court administration is highly localized. According to the Constitution, judicial power rests solely with the central government. But in reality, as local courts are locally funded and staffed, they are subject to [localized] political influence. The result is that local courts often do not serve the people, but local governments, and often make rulings based not in law, but in political expediency. This is what the new round of legal reforms unveiled during the Third Plenum aims to tackle. In the future, courts at the county level will be funded by provincial governments, with provincial courts funded by the central government, freeing both from the influence of local interests. NC: What about interference exerted by special interests on Chinese judges? NEWSCHINA I February 2014