Deputies to the 10th National People's Congress deliberated over the findings of the Work Report of the Supreme People's Court (Supreme Court) delivered Tuesday by the Chief Justice, Xiao Yang. Deputies formed a consensus that the past five years had been successful in carrying out the work of the court, particularly in the enforcement of its law and emphasis of its themes of "justice and efficiency".

Wang Jinxiang is deputy secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Party Committee and assessed the Work Report of the Supreme People's Court as objective and practical, saying that it not only referred to its weaknesses but gave priority to "further improving the level of law enforcement" and that it would "further improve the quality of law enforcers". In recent years, he said, Xinjiang had seen great advancements made in its economy and this should be attributed to democratic and legal advancements as well as a more favorable and stable political climate; all made possible by the preferential policies of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

Sun Xiaoqun, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee made the comment that Xiao's report was easy to understand while delivering very important information. He also added that the court contributed to maintaining social stability in the past five years and much progress had been made in team building in that time. He pointed out that although there are severe challenges ahead, the work of the court will enable them. The report refers to the number of cases handled by the court and reflects its achievements and also points to the large increase in cases to be handled.

The court remains, he says, an ineffective law enforcer and suggests the reasons are that there are no special laws on compulsory implementation and that law enforcers are often poor at it and also it is due to local protectionism. He went on to say that enhancing proper education of the law and enforcing counterfeit punishments, and strengthening control of law enforcers, would go some way to establishing higher levels of control. At the same time, he suggests, it would be an option to increase the salaries of the public security organizations as well as the staff of the procuratorial organizations, and of the people's courts, while also making management stricter.

Xing Jun, vice chairman of Tianjin Municipal People's Congress said that "justice and efficiency" are basic requirements in modern judicial work and also the strong wish of ordinary people. The Supreme People's Court has been set as the sole arbiter of the administration of justice and value. Thus, "justice" and "efficiency" are of great significance for the strict enforcement of law, the fair administration of justice and maintaining the legal rights of people, organizations and courts of law.

NPC deputy Raisa Alexandrovna, assistant judge of Tacheng Intermediary People's Court of Xinjiang, thought the report not only summarized the work of trial implementation and judicial interpretation in the past five years but also gave sufficient ideas and suggestions for court reform and team building. Practice has shown that the work of the courts centers on "justice and efficiency", she said. She proposed to accelerate the steps of court reform, for example, to establish departments or agencies according to judicial administrative areas. She also suggested further promoting the professional team building of judges, providing special training for trial judges and improving the jury system so that expert jurors could be invited to a collegiate branch.

Major general Guo Linqing, captain of Tianjin Armed Police Force, suggested further detailing relevant judicial systems as he thought the current laws attempt to apply too wide a range. For example, some criminals could be sentenced to two or three years in prison according to different laws.

(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Yan Xinxia, translated by Li Jinhui, March 15, 2003)