China Laws

A Chinese Supreme Court justice who is spearheading China's modernization of trademark, copyright and patent protection laws visited Los Angeles last week to meet law and business professionals and to promote business opportunities in his country. Justice Zongyi Fei, a member of China's Supreme People's Court, spent four days in Los Angeles learning how to strengthen intellectual property laws--those that protect patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets--in his country.

China's legislature, ending a 16-day annual session Tuesday, marked a new milestone toward a more open political system when more than 1,000 delegates refused to endorse a bill submitted to them. The bill, which would grant lawmaking powers to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone adjacent to Hong Kong, passed all the same, with the support of 1,609 delegates.

China's legislature will pass a new law strengthening its constitutionally mandated powers of supervision over the government and judiciary, according to officials attending the annual session of the National People's Congress, or NPC. Officials did not give a timetable, but they expressed confidence that the NPC Supervision Law will be passed within the legislature's current five-year session, which ends in 2003.

Premier Li Peng said Wednesday that China's Communist leadership is united and capable of defeating any threat to its rule, an apparent allusion to last year's huge pro-democracy protests. "The core of leadership in China, with General Secretary Jiang Zemin as the nucleus, is united, it is strong and I believe that it commands the support of the Chinese people," Li told a press conference at the Great Hall of the People.