BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Judicial protection of private enterprises and entrepreneurs will be enhanced in accordance with the law, Jiang Bixin, vice president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Jiang said infringements of the legitimate rights of private enterprises and entrepreneurs will be resolutely punished while their legitimate operations will be resolutely protected according to the law.
ENSURING HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT
Private enterprises, state-owned enterprises, small enterprises and large enterprises will all be given the same treatment and protected equally, said Jiang.
Jiang added that excuses such as loss of state-owned assets and maintenance of public interests must not be used to disregard the legitimate demands of private enterprises and entrepreneurs and to infringe their legitimate rights.
"A small number of people intend to use minor offenses to deliver vital blows on private enterprises or blackmail them," said Jiang. "This should be prevented."
"It should be cautioned that a small number of people intend to entrap private enterprises and entrepreneurs via fake and malicious litigation," Jiang said.
STRENGTHENING SENSE OF SECURITY
Judicial interpretation and normative documents will be released soon to clarify the boundary line between who is guilty and who is not in economic disputes. Interference into economic disputes through criminal enforcement measures should be resolutely prevented.
The validity of contracts signed between governments and enterprises should be properly affirmed. The legitimate demands of private enterprises must be protected in cases where governments break the contract, said Jiang.
Jiang said in practice, problems exist whereby the infringement cost is low while the cost to safeguard legal rights is high. The SPC will explore the imposition of punitive damages in case of intellectual property rights theft.
Jiang revealed that the SPC will provide judicial criterion to courts at all levels to prevent inconsistent judgment in the same types of cases in order to enhance judicial authority and credibility.
INTENSIFYING RECTIFICATION OF PROPERTY-RELATED CASES
In 2017, the SPC announced it would retry three cases concerning property. Zhang Wenzhong, former chairman of retail company Wumei Holdings, was acquitted of fraud, bribery and embezzlement charges during one of the retrials. The retrials of two other cases involving Gu Chujun, former chairman of refrigerator maker Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings and Jiangsu Muyang Co., Ltd, are currently in process, said Jiang.
"[The retrials of these three cases] are conducive to strengthening a sense of personal safety and property security for entrepreneurs and their confidence in entrepreneurship," said Jiang.
"Guided by the SPC, courts in various regions have intensified their efforts in identifying and rectifying wrongly and unjustly judged cases," said Jiang.
Jiang added the SPC will continue to send positive signals to the society and provide guidance and reference to courts at all levels in judging relevant cases.