Chinese courts strengthen judicial protection for security, development, people's livelihoods

BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese courts have strengthened judicial protection of national security, social stability, economic development and people's livelihoods, contributing to the country's efforts to advance Chinese modernization under the rule of law.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, courts across the country have faithfully performed their duties, upheld fairness and justice, and continued to deepen judicial reform to improve the quality and efficiency of judicial proceedings.

Safeguarding national security and social stability have remained key priorities. In 2025, Chinese courts concluded 46,000 cases involving serious violent crimes and 41,000 telecom and online fraud cases. Over the past five years, they also concluded 9,326 cases involving crimes endangering cyber-security.

Chinese courts have strengthened efforts to prevent and resolve disputes at an early stage. From January to October this year, they successfully mediated more than 4.86 million cases before formal litigation, while primary-level courts have established a presence in all county-level centers for comprehensive social governance across the country.

Judicial services have supported China's high-quality economic development by safeguarding fair market competition, protecting businesses' legitimate rights and interests, and strengthening intellectual property protection.

In late May 2025, after the private economy promotion law came into force, a division of China's top court applied it for the first time, ordering a government department to pay over 8 million yuan (about 1.2 million U.S. dollars) to a company in one case.

In 2025, as part of the efforts to ensure the healthy development of China's digital economy, Chinese courts concluded 908 cases involving disputes over data ownership and transactions, up 25.6 percent year on year.

Judicial proceedings have further strengthened the country's environmental and resource protection. By the end of 2025, China had established more than 2,500 specialized judicial institutions and organizations for handling environmental and resource-related cases, forming what is described as the world's largest and most comprehensive system of environmental judicial institutions.

Judicial services have also supported China's opening up. From 2021 to 2025, Chinese courts concluded 128,000 foreign-related civil and commercial cases of first instance, up 65 percent from the previous five-year period, with parties from more than 100 countries and regions involved. Chinese courts have continued to improve their capacity and credibility in handling foreign-related disputes, and to build China as a preferred center for international commercial and maritime dispute resolution.

Protecting people's livelihood and legitimate rights and interests remains a central task of China's judicial work. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Chinese courts concluded more than 23 million first-instance cases involving education, employment, elderly care and medical services.

Chinese courts are expected to continue to deepen judicial reform, improve judicial quality and efficiency, and strengthen judicial credibility, to ensure that people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case and to provide stronger legal support for Chinese modernization.