Official pledges reforms in China's petition system

BEIJING - An official with China's authority on handling the public's complaints 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), made the remarks at a press conference on Thursday.

Zhang said the bureau will further expand the channels for the public to file petitions, including petition hotlines, video petitioning and online petitioning.

All petitions should receive close attention, especially those from people who are filing their first petitions, Zhang said.

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

Zhang said the bureau will spare no effort in solving 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 the bureau's work.

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

However, 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, said Li Gao, another deputy head with the SBLC, adding that the petition 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 legal petitioning from the public is prohibited, and behaviors 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.