President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Zhang Jun, meets with a delegation headed by Chen Xu, deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at the SPC headquarters in Beijing on Oct 16, 2023. The two sides hold a consultation meeting on strengthening cooperation in judicial protection of overseas Chinese interests in a pragmatic and effective manner. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

On Oct 16, President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Zhang Jun met with a delegation headed by Chen Xu, deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at the SPC headquarters in Beijing. The two sides held a consultation meeting on strengthening cooperation in the judicial protection of overseas Chinese interests in a pragmatic and effective manner.

President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Zhang Jun delivers a speech at the meeting. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Zhang underscored the principle of fairness and efficiency in properly handling every case related to overseas Chinese nationals, in order to demonstrate the role of the people's courts in safeguarding social justice and to showcase China's achievements in the development of the rule of law. He called for giving full play to the institutional advantages of the Party's leadership, maintaining close communication between people's courts and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, and continuing to fully implement the results of relevant consultations, to form a joint force in the protection of overseas Chinese interests. Efforts are also needed to jointly advance the formulation of and revision to relevant laws and regulations and to improve the diversified dispute resolution mechanism involving overseas Chinese nationals, he said, adding that the explanatory role of typical cases should be fully tapped and personnel training and thematic seminars should be held on a regular basis, in order to improve the understanding of protecting the interests of overseas Chinese nationals as well as the ability thereof.

Chen Xu, deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, delivers a speech at the meeting. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Chen, also head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, pointed out that the central leadership has always attached great importance to overseas Chinese affairs. She acknowledged the SPC’s efforts in guiding courts at all levels to handle cases involving overseas Chinese nationals with fairness and efficiency in accordance with the law, which protected the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals residing abroad, returned overseas Chinese, and relatives of overseas Chinese nationals residing in China. She raised hope that the two sides can jointly promote relevant legislation concerning overseas Chinese nationals, continuously improve the protection system, and strengthen communication and academic exchanges in a bid to promote the integration of judicial protection of overseas Chinese interests into the overall work of the Party and the country.