Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), meets with a delegation headed by Sam Hou Fai, president of the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), in Beijing on July 24, 2023. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), met with a delegation headed by Sam Hou Fai, president of the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), in Beijing on July 24.

Zhang, also chief justice of the country, extended a warm welcome to the delegation. He acknowledged the close coordination and development progress thereof between Macao and the mainland in politics, the economy, and people-to-people exchanges following the policies of "one country, two systems", "Macao people administering Macao" and a high degree of autonomy.

The Central Government affirmed full support to Macao in tapping its own strengths to strive for new achievements in the practice of the "one country, two systems" with Macao characteristics, and to contribute more to building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects, according to Zhang. Courts in Macao have always abided by the Constitution and the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, firmly maintained justice and judicial orders, which have strongly safeguarded Macao's socioeconomic prosperity and stability, he said.

He introduced the mainland's legal development and courts' work. According to him, the people's courts have continuously improved trial quality and efficiency, and fully used mediation to conclude cases in a bid to bring justice to all litigants. Efforts were also made to strengthen communication and cooperation with their Macao counterparts and the judicial assistance network between the mainland and Macao has been improved to jointly advance the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone, he said. The SPC is ready to work with the Macao CFA to jointly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and promote the prosperity, stability and development of both regions, he added.

Sam extended his appreciation to Zhang for the meeting as well as the long-term support from the SPC in Macao CFA's work. He pledged to further strengthen cooperation with mainland judicial organs in such areas as judicial assistance and personnel training, and to fully and accurately implement the "one country, two systems" principle and the National Security Law for Macao SAR in order for the region to better integrate into the national development paradigm.

The two sides also held in-depth exchanges on topics of common interest, such as case research and guidance and criminal judicial assistance.