China’s courts ‘biased’ towards state giants due to political pressure, study shows
- Only 37 per cent of cases involving SOEs were disclosed, despite a requirement from the Supreme People’s Court, according to the Chinese University of Hong Kong
- China is under pressure from the United States to reform its state-owned enterprises, although have continued to intensify their role in the economy
Chinese courts are under political pressure to protect state-owned enterprises as a new study found 63 per cent of legal cases involving such companies were suppressed by the government.
Disclosures in the remaining cases were suppressed by the government, even though they have been required by the Supreme People’s Court since 2014.
The primary motivation for this “special type of judicial favouritism” is to protect SOEs and firms located in the provinces in which the courts operate, said Zhang Tianyu, a professor at the School of Accountancy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School.
Public disclosure of the judicial opinions may raise people’s attention about the firms and prevent government leaders from showing favouritism to them
“Public disclosure of the judicial opinions may raise people’s attention about the firms and prevent government leaders from showing favouritism to them,” Zhang said.
