Official pledges reforms in China's petition system

BEIJING - An official with China's authority on handling the public's complaints has pledged reforms in the country's petition system to better redress public grievances.

Zhang Enxi, deputy head of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls (SBLC), said on Thursday that the bureau will expand channels for the public to file petitions, including through hotlines, videos and online formats.

Close attention should be given to all petitions, especially those from people who are filing their first such appeals, Zhang said at a press conference.

Due procedure, transparency and effective settlement in the system will also be improved, the official vowed.

He said the bureau will spare no efforts in handling the public's reasonable appeals in an effective manner and put the protection of the public's legal rights and interests at the center of its work.

A pilot mechanism has been launched to evaluate petitioners' satisfaction with the authority's work, and the system will be implemented in all relevant agencies across the country next year, according to Zhang.

However, he noted, petitions regarding the country's legal and judicial systems should be left for judicial remedies and will not be accepted.

Such complaints should be made and solved through judiciary agencies according to specific procedures, added Li Gao, another deputy head of the SBLC, affirming that the bureau will not accept, give instructions or mediate in such cases, but will give explanations and tell petitioners to respect the authority of judicial decisions and pursue judicial solutions.

Li also stressed that any attempt to constrain the public from legal petitioning is prohibited, and acts to intercept, detain or take revenge on the petitioners will be strictly investigated and punished.

A decision approved at the recent Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee stated that China will reform its petition system to answer the public's complaints in a timely manner.

Li said that in order to reduce abnormal petitions to the central government, the SBLC used to calculate repeated and abnormal appeals filed by local petitioners, and made lists based on the figures to be related to the assessment of local officials.

"In February this year, the SBLC stopped making such lists and now reports abnormal complaints only to relevant local authorities, so as to improve petitioning work," Li added.