Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court, visits the people's court in Fengning Manchu autonomous county in Chengde, North China's Hebei province, Aug 26, 2022. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), reiterated the need to propel the high-quality development of courts' work to prepare for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), during his visit to Chengde city in North China's Hebei province on Aug 26.

He visited the people's court in Fengning Manchu autonomous county and inquired on the trial work conducted this year, especially on cases related to domestic matters. After hearing the local court’s report on its measures to reform trial procedures concerning domestic matters, Zhou fully acknowledged its efforts to properly handle marriage and family related disputes, and urged the court to strengthen cooperation with related departments, such as the public security bureau, judicial and civil administrations and the women's federation, in order to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of children, women and the elderly.

In view of the fact that the jurisdiction is vast and sparsely populated, courts in Chengde delegated judicial manpower to grassroots level to resolve disputes onsite, with the help of circuit courts and judge offices at the community level.

Zhou acknowledged this as a fruitful exploration in social governance at grassroots level, and encouraged local courts to promote the Fengqiao Model and to resolve disputes at the source in order to provide more premium and efficient judicial services to the people.

He also stressed the importance of providing strong judicial services for China’s modernization by giving full play to the functional role of trial work, and pursuing a holistic approach to national security to resolutely safeguard the country’s political security and social stability.

He called for the comprehensive and accurate implementation of the new development philosophy, strengthening intellectual property protection and stimulating market vitality, as well as serving the coordination of epidemic response and socioeconomic development. Judicial reforms and smart court construction should be intensified to speed up the modernization of the trial system and capacity, and a zero-tolerance approach should be taken in the fight against judicial corruption, he said.