More judicial efforts aim to protect rights of businesses

The work reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have sent strong signals that more judicial efforts will be made to equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of all types of businesses and to foster a healthier business environment, in order to further support high-quality development, deputies to China's top legislature said.

Both the SPC and the SPP highlighted in their reports the importance of equally protecting the legitimate rights and interests of various business entities. The reports were delivered by SPC President Zhang Jun and Procurator-General Ying Yong, respectively, on Saturday at the second plenary meeting of the third session of the 14th National People's Congress for the national lawmakers to deliberate.

In 2024, the use of criminal means to intervene in economic disputes, as well as unauthorized cross-regional law enforcement and profit-driven law enforcement were targeted in particular, according to the reports.

A total of 46 cases involving property rights disputes were reexamined, with the wrongful convictions of 72 individuals overturned and 13 people being acquitted, the SPC said.

Meanwhile, by using the power of the rule of law to stabilize expectations, boost confidence and promote development, 137,000 individuals were prosecuted for crimes that disrupted the socialist market economy order, marking a 13 percent increase year-on-year, the SPP said.

Xue Jiping, a deputy from Jiangsu province and chairman of Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co, said, "The reports have shown judicial authorities' determination to safeguard the high-quality development of different enterprises and optimize the law-based business environment."

He said he hoped that the rule of law will become the core foundation for building a healthy business environment in China.

Yao Kuizhang, a deputy from Hebei province and chairman of Hebei Yangyuan Zhihui Beverage, said the reports both repeatedly emphasized the importance of serving the construction of a unified national market, supporting the development of new quality productive forces, and building a rule-of-law business environment, in response to the concerns of entrepreneurs.

"The work reports have sent a strong signal of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and entrepreneurs in accordance with the law," said Yao, who last year suggested drafting laws to support the development of private enterprises.

Dong Mingzhu, a deputy from Guangdong province and chairwoman of Gree Electric Appliances, urged judicial authorities to strengthen the comprehensive system to tackle online rumors and cyber violence targeting businesses, and to explicitly include penalty clauses for online rumors and cyber violence in relevant laws.

She said there is a need to "severely punish behavior such as spreading false information and maliciously attacking competitors online".

Last year, the SPC enforced efforts to severely punish crimes such as spreading rumors about and defaming enterprises, as well as extortion, it said in its report. In one case, an offender surnamed Huang, together with others, posted negative information related to enterprises online, extorting a total of 556,000 yuan ($76,860) from 21 companies for the removal of posts. Huang was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

According to a white paper released by the SPP on Sunday, prosecutorial authorities nationwide attached great importance last year to combating crimes that disrupt the business environment via the internet.