Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), leads a team from the SPC in conducting a survey at the Taihu Dispatched People's Tribunal of Changxing Primary People's Court in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), has underlined the importance of enhancing judicial impartiality, and called for efforts to effectively resolve disputes and conflicts to maintain social stability.

Zhang made the remarks during an inspection trip from Nov 12 to 14 to East China's Zhejiang province, the birthplace of the "Fengqiao Experience" – a Chinese model of successful dispute resolution and grassroots social governance.

He emphasized the importance of focusing on effectively resolving the root causes of disputes to carry out the work of the people's courts in the new era, and highlighted the need for the courts in Zhejiang to take a people-centered approach, work to enhance people's sense of fairness and justice, and strive to explore and summarize experiences to serve as exemplary models for courts nationwide. 

The team visits the Morality and Rule of Law Experience Hall for Minors in Nanxun district, Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The team visits the shared courtroom in Potang village of Yuecheng district, Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The team visits the Social Governance Center in Shangcheng district, Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The team visits the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

An SPC inspection team headed by Zhang visited various judicial institutions in Zhejiang's Huzhou, Shaoxing and Hangzhou, engaged in discussions with deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and visited front-line judicial staff. 

The team holds a symposium at the Yuecheng Primary People's Court in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Li Zhihui, a deputy to the National People's Congress, speaks at the symposium. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

While acknowledging Zhejiang courts' high-level performance in both theoretical and practical aspects, Zhang urged solid work in the prevention and control of risks at the source to ensure social stability and safeguard the people's health and lives. 

Efforts are needed to settle disputes impartially so that the people are willing to acknowledge and accept judgments and feel fairness and justice in the process, Zhang noted. The focus of adjudication work should shift from "concluding the case" to "resolving the dispute", he said.

Zhang underscored the need to practice impartial justice by prudently handling each case in accordance with the law and consider the actual conditions of people involved in disputes, especially in cases concerning family matters, labor disputes, conflicts in clinical practice, small loans, and traffic accidents.

It is important to ensure the positive effect of impartial justice by always prioritizing judicial impartiality, case quality, and adjudication outcomes over mere efficiency, he said. The adjudication quality should never be compromised, he added.

Zhang also highlighted the need for leadership accountability in the administration of impartial justice and said that leading officials, also known as the "key few", should play their overall managerial roles effectively. 

Leading judges and officials should strive to build a professional task force, enhancing the capabilities and qualities of judges, and fostering cohesion and competency among judicial staff, he said.

The team, together with deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, listens to a presentation on the work of courts in Zhejiang and holds discussions. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Wang Chengguo, member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhejiang Provincial Committee and secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, as well as Huang Meimei and Liang Tingbo, both deputies to the National People's Congress, and Zheng Yali, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, speak at the symposium. [Photo/court.gov.cn]