Developing judicial fairness and people-oriented judicial service plays a role in opening-up policy for the New Era, according to Zhou Qiang, chief justice and president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

Zhou inspected people's courts and some enterprises in Zhejiang province on Nov 1, learning about their innovative measures to resolve disputes and asking for better judicial service for the people.

To tackle simple disputes efficiently, the People's Tribunal of the Haishu District People's Court in Ningbo set up a team consists of judges, judiciaries and mediators through WeChat -- an online communication application widely used in China -- to collect people's views, popularize judicial knowledge and resolve easy cases.

Zhou affirmed the method and said he hoped courts will cooperate with related judicial departments and adopt technological devices to resolve disputes faster and more easily.

During his visit, Zhou also went to the control center of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company to discover its judicial needs, stressing afterwards at the Ningbo Maritime Court that the authenticity of China’s maritime affair adjudication processes must be improved and judges' professional competence must be strengthened.

Zhou spoke highly of the court's adoption of high-tech resources such as an automatic ship identification system to supervise and examine ships involved in cases and encouraged related departments to build a platform where maritime affair data could be shared.

A WeChat mini program where users can learn about litigation processes and take part in their cases by phone was created by the Ningbo People's Court.

Zhou pointed out that there is a need to integrate advanced technology like artificial intelligence into information and data protection. The mini program is an innovative model in this field and should be promoted among courts at various levels in China.

Zhou Qiang inspects the Haishu District People's Court in Ningbo on Nov 1. [Photo/court.gov.cn]