China's Master Plan for Remaking Its Courts

By Susan Finder

March 26, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/chinas-master-plan-for-remaking-its-courts/

The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) Court Reform Plan Outline has left most of the world confused about what it means, surprisingly including Chinese judges, some of whom have been burning up the Chinese blogosphere. Stanley Lubman, commentator on Chinese legal affairs, wrote: What remains unclear is whether Chinese leaders intend to make meaningful changes within that framework to raise the quality of Chinese justice or are merely paying lip-service to justice as they continue the old patterns of authoritarian control.

This article provides another perspective on the significance of the Court Reform Plan Outline.

The Court Reform Plan Outline needs to be recognized for what it is — part of President Xi Jinping’s comprehensive reforms of the current political system, and, in particular, part of his comprehensive reforms of the justice system. The aim is to raise the quality of Chinese justice (under Party leadership). As the head of the office of the Central Judicial Reform Leading Group (the Communist Party group in charge of judicial reform) said, “an unjust judiciary would have lethal damage effects on social justice [and, by implication, social stability].”