Distinguished delegates:

Now, on behalf of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, I will report to the General Assembly on our work. Please review this report, and I invite all members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference to give their opinions.

Review of Work from 2018

2018 marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up as well as the 40th anniversary of the restoration and reconstruction of procuratorial institutions. Under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and under the strong supervision of the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implemented the spirit of the Nineteenth Party Congress and the Second and Third Plenums of the Nineteenth Central Committee, earnestly implemented the resolutions of the First Session of the 13th National People’s Congress, strengthened the “Four Consciousnesses,” upheld the “Four Matters of Confidence,” and practiced the “two safeguards.” We based ourselves on the people’s higher requirements for democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and the environment in the new era, actively adapted to the anti-corruption transfer and the adjustment of procuratorial functions, adhered to speaking politics, considering the overall situation, seeking development, and focusing on self-improvement, adopted a series of proactive thoughts and measures for follow-up, made the transfer of jurisdiction a turning point for the comprehensive, coordinated and full development of legal supervision, and steadily moved forward various procuratorial work. Over the past year, procuratorial institutions across the country have faithfully performed the legal supervision duties entrusted to them by the Constitution and laws. A total of 1,056,616 suspects of various types were arrested and 1,692,846 were prosecuted, year-on-year decreases of 2.3% and 0.8% respectively. We supervised 447,940 cases of violations in criminal, civil, and administrative litigation activities, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%, and registered and handled 113,160 cases of public interest litigation.

I. Gave full play to the procuratorial function and worked to serve the overall situation and make the judiciary work for the people

We resolutely implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, embodied the adherence to putting people at the center in all aspects of procuratorial work, served and promoted the implementation of the “Five-sphere Integrated Plan” overall layout and the “Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy.”

We resolutely maintained the country’s political security and social order. We implemented the overall national security outlook and actively participated in the anti-infiltration, anti-espionage, anti-separatism, anti-terrorism, and anti-cult struggles. We worked with relevant departments to formulate judicial interpretations and refined the conviction standards for terrorist activities and extremist crimes. Xinjiang has very difficult anti-terrorism and stability maintenance tasks, so we selected prosecutors from other provinces to go to Xinjiang to support the strict handling of cases according to the law. We continued to impose severe punishments for serious violent crimes such as intentional homicide and kidnapping. Prosecutors across the country prosecuted 59,717 people, a year-on-year decrease of 5.9%. We prosecuted 361,478 people for burglary, robbery, theft, and other frequent property crimes, a year-on-year decrease of 6.9%. We resolutely punished crimes such as fraud and extortion involved in “trap loans” and “campus loans”, and prosecuted 2,973 people. We maintained order online in accordance with the law and prosecuted 43,929 telecommunications and network fraud crimes, a year-on-year increase of 29.3%. In conjunction with the Ministry of Public Security, we strengthened overseas law enforcement and judicial cooperation and brought Guo Shimin, Xi Huan, and other transnational telecommunications and network fraud criminal suspects to justice. We prosecuted 15,003 people for crimes such as the use of the Internet for gambling, spreading obscene materials, and leaking personal information, a year-on-year increase of 41.3%. For serious and vicious cases such as using a vehicle or blade to kill innocent people, which are of high concern to society, we guided local procuratorial organs to quickly intervene and approved arrests and prosecutions in accordance with the law. In response to the frequent acts that have severely hindered the safe driving of public transport vehicles in recent years, we worked with relevant departments to formulate guidelines to severely punish the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous methods. Headstrong willfulness is not permitted in a society under the rule of law.

We invested ourselves in the special struggle against organized crime with a high sense of responsibility. We issued announcements in conjunction with relevant departments, formulated guidelines, clarified 11 types of areas of focus for crackdowns, and listed 69 major organized crime cases for supervision. We approved the arrest of 11,183 criminal suspects involved in organized crime, and 10,361 people were prosecuted. 62,202 suspects involved in criminal activities were arrested, and 50,827 people were prosecuted. We severely punished the “Eighteen Brotherhood” in Luoning, the “Hou Brothers” in Wenzi, Baicheng Shimiao, and other criminal organizations who committed crimes and killed civilians. We insisted on taking facts as our basis and taking the law as our standard. This means not letting crimes go unpunished, while not punishing others to inflate our numbers. Of the organized crime cases sent for review and prosecution by investigative institutions, procuratorial institutions rejected 9,154 cases. We also identified 2,117 cases involving organized crime that were not sent in accordance with the law. We promoted the practices of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Henan, and other regions. The provincial procuratorates uniformly and strictly control organized crime and serious crime cases to ensure the quality of case handling. We struck hard at the “protective umbrella” of crimes committed by underworld forces and prosecuted 350 people.

We actively served the three tough battles (三大攻坚战). In consultation with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, we formulated the “8 Opinions.” We actively participated in the special rectification of Internet financial risks, worked with relevant departments to formulate judicial interpretations, and severely punish crimes such as illegal fund-raising and underground banks that disrupt the financial order. We prosecuted 26,974 people involved in economic crimes such as illegal absorption of public deposits, fund-raising fraud, and pyramid schemes, an increase of 10.9% year-on-year. At the same time, we strongly promoted the recovery of stolen property. We intensified judicial protection of intellectual property rights, listed 32 major typical cases for supervision, and prosecuted 8,325 people for infringement of patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, a year-on-year increase of 16.3%. We severely punished corruption in the poverty alleviation field and prosecuted 1,160 people for embezzlement and private distribution of poverty alleviation funds. We worked with the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council to formulate opinions on the implementation of judicial assistance to support poverty alleviation and promoted the practices of Shandong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Gansu, and other regions. Criminal victims who returned to poverty due to the case or their close relatives were included in judicial assistance, and 4,214 households were granted 49.05 million RMB in assistance. We implemented the resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, actively participated in the fight for pollution prevention and control, took the lead in formulating regulations for the handling criminal cases involving environmental pollution, and prosecuted 42,195 people for crimes that undermine the protection of environmental resources, a year-on-year increase of 21%. In conjunction with the Ministry of Water Resources, we organized the procuratorial institutions from the nine provinces and districts of the Yellow River Basin and the river director system offices to carry out a special initiative of “Jointly Working to Clear the Four Disorders and Protect the Mother River” (携手清四乱、保护母亲河). We established a coordination mechanism for procuratorial institutions in 11 provinces and cities along the Yangtze River, introduced the “10 Measures” to serve the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and instructed the procuratorial organs in Anhui, Hubei, and other regions to handle a number of cases of cross-provincial dumping of solid waste, illegal sewage discharge, and illegal sand mining and jointly safeguard “a river with clear waters and green hills on both sides.”

We give equal protection to the legitimate rights and interests of all types of enterprises. We earnestly studied and implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Private Enterprise Forum. In judicial cases, “equality” was our watchword when dealing with state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, large, medium, small, and micro enterprises in order to ensure that all types of enterprises were treated equally in terms of litigation status, litigation rights, and legal protection. We conducted research and discussions with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and fully listened to the opinions of private entrepreneurs. We summarized 11 specific procuratorial policies from three previously issued judicial documents, strictly distinguished between legitimate financing and illegal fundraising, property disputes and malicious appropriation, and personal property and corporate property, and emphasized the prudent use of compulsory measures that restrict personal and property rights. Four typical cases involving the protection of legitimate rights and interests of enterprises were printed and distributed to procuratorial institutions nationwide for reference. In response to the Zhang Wenzhong case, we proposed to amend the result to innocent in accordance with the law. We directly supervised 68 criminal complaints involving property rights. We insisted on seeking truth from facts, correcting all cases if all are wrong and some cases if some are wrong, and neither covered up mistakes and shortcomings, nor assumed that everything was bad and wrong.

We actively cooperated with the reform of the national supervision system. Over the past year, we smoothly linked to and cooperated with supervision and effectively implemented the principle of mutual constraint. We cooperated with the National Supervision Commission to formulate standards for work linkage, evidence collection and review, and other procedures in handling criminal cases involving official duties. We accepted 16,092 persons charged with crimes involving official duties transferred by supervisory committees at all levels, prosecuted 9,802, decided not to prosecute 250, and returned 1,869 persons for supplementary investigation. The rate of non-prosecution and the rate of withdrawal from investigation decreased by 9.5 and 37 percentage points respectively year-on-year. Public prosecutions were filed against Sun Zhengcai, Wang Sanyun, and other 32 personnel at or above the provincial and ministerial level in accordance with the law. We actively participated in the pursuit of “Top 100 Most Wanted Personnel” (百名红通人员), such as Xu Chaofan and Jiang Lei, and issued announcements in conjunction with relevant departments to urge those who fled to surrender. We instructed local procuratorial institutions to initiate confiscation procedures for illegal income in 17 cases of crimes involving official duties where suspects had fled, gone into hiding, or died and mandated that the stolen money involved in the cases must be recovered.

We maintained food and drug safety in accordance with the law. We prosecuted 12,360 people for crimes involving the manufacture and sale of counterfeit medicines, inferior medicines, and toxic and harmful foods, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. After the Changsheng vaccine scandal occurred, the SPP created a supervision list and the Jilin Procuratorate approved the arrest of 18 people in accordance with the law. We deployed special supervision of public interest litigation on the “guaranteeing the safety of every bite of food taken by thousands of households” (保障千家万户舌尖上的安全) and focused on handling public interest litigation that affects the safety of primary and secondary schools, farmer’s markets, and online food delivery. The procuratorial organs in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Yunnan, and other regions urged relevant functional departments to carry out strict supervision. More than 50,000 unqualified online catering shops were rectified, so that the masses could have greater peace of mind when ordering food.

We conscientiously did a good job in procuratorial work involving minors. For minors suspected of minor crimes and showing penitence, 15,205 were not arrested, 8,332 were not prosecuted, and 6,959 were conditionally not prosecuted, representing increases of 6.9%, 13.8%, and 16% respectively year-on-year. For those who should be severely punished in accordance with the law, 29,350 people were arrested and 39,760 people were prosecuted, a year-on-year increase of 4.4% and a decrease of 8.8% respectively. For those who had not reached the age of criminal responsibility, we worked with relevant departments on constraint education and strict rectification. In recent years, crimes of sexual assault, abduction, abuse, and harm to minors have continued to occur frequently. Last year, 50,705 people were prosecuted for such crimes, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. Qi Mou, who raped and molested several girls, refused to plead guilty and was only sentenced to ten years in prison. The SPP protested the sentence and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment. Regarding the problems discovered in this case, the No. 1 Procuratorial Proposal of the SPP was issued to the Ministry of Education, and the provincial procuratorates were requested to implement this proposal simultaneously. The Ministry of Education and local educational administrative departments promoted the implementation of systems such as the prohibition of sex offenders and criminals, mandatory reporting of campus sexual assault, and closed management of female dormitories. With regard to some “big bad wolves” who use online chat to force girls to take selfies and upload nude photos, which seriously infringes on children’s personal dignity and physical and mental health, taking cases of modified sentences as an example, we established the principle where cases of indecent non-physical contact in the same manner as crimes involving contact with a child’s body. In response to publicized cases of school violence, it is clear that adults encounter minors who bully the weak and words are not always effective. In such cases, it is legitimate to defend against those who are committing violence. Adults should not turn a blind eye or pass by without doing anything. The SPP took the lead in implementing “rule of law education from the cradle,” and 1,796 chief prosecutors of the procuratorates at the four levels served concurrently as deputy principals for the rule of law in primary and secondary schools. The SPP and the provincial procuratorates set up special juvenile procuratorial institutions, reflecting the great importance that the Party and the state place on the judicial protection of juveniles.

We participated in social governance from a basis of case handling. Procuratorial institutions practiced the “Fengqiao experience” (枫桥经验,  mobilizing the masses at the grassroots of society to enforce proper conduct for the new era and focused on resolving contradictions and truly closing cases, rather than just procedurally closing cases. We considerately treated the petitions of the people and established a system for procedural response within 7 days and progress or result response within 3 months. For 58,181 petition cases that did not meet acceptance conditions or did not support a formal complaint after review, we patiently provided explanations in the case of doubts and convinced the parties involved. We implemented the responsibility system of “whoever enforces the law should popularize the law”, interpreted the law based on the facts, revised and published 13 guiding cases in four batches. After the media disclosed the “Kunshan Hacking Case”, we guided Jiangsu’s procuratorial institutes to intervene in advance, put forward qualitative opinions on the case, supported public security institutions in withdrawing the case, and released it publicly as a typical case of legitimate self-defense. We guided the Fuzhou City Procuratorate to determine that Zhao Yu’s bravery in causing serious injury in response to the person who unlawfully harmed him was a legitimate defense and he should not bear criminal responsibility in accordance with the law. We made it clear that the law must never make concessions to unlawful acts.

II. Strengthened legal supervision of litigation activities and maintained judicial impartiality and credibility

Procuratorial supervision is not a zero-sum game. The goals of the supervisors and those supervised are consistent. They all practice people-centeredness and strive to make the people feel that every judicial case is fair and just.

We have deepened the supervision of criminal proceedings. We implement the criminal policy of combining leniency and strictness. We decided not to arrest 116,452 people suspected of a crime when no arrest was needed and decided not to prosecute 102,572 people for the minor crimes and when no penalties needed to be imposed in accordance with the law In handling cases of leniency in the case of a confession, procuratorial institutions recommended the application of this procedure for 98.3% trials and the adoption rate of sentencing recommendations was 96%. We persevered in correcting and preventing cases of wrongful conviction. We decided not to arrest 168,458 people and decided not to prosecute 34,398 whose actions did not constitute crimes or where evidence was insufficient, representing year-on-year increases of 15.9% and 14.1% respectively. We promptly protested and re-examined procuratorial suggestions for cases of wrongful conviction that were discovered and made corrections while deeply summarizing the lessons learned. The SPP proposed the re-examination of the  “Li Jinlian Intentional Homicide Case” and “Zou Junmin Drug Trafficking Case,” resulting in the revision of both judgments. We strengthened the supervision of criminal case filing, investigation, and trial activities. We kept a close eye on issues such as not filing a case, not investigating guilt and improper case filing, and ultra vires activities and supervised and urged investigation institutions to file 22,215 cases and withdraw 18,385 cases, increases of 19.5% and 32% respectively year-on-year. Written corrective opinions were submitted to investigation institutions 58,744 times regarding the illegal collection of evidence, improper application of compulsory measures, and other issues, an increase of 22.8% year-on-year. We made 8,504 protests against criminal judgments that were deemed wrong, and the courts have revised or remanded for retrial 5,244l, year-on-year increases of 7.2% and 8.4% respectively. We strengthened the supervision of criminal justice implementation. We supervised and corrected 39,287 improper instances of commutation, parole, and temporary serving of sentences outside of prison, a year-on-year increase of 38.9%. Of our proposals for the release or modification of compulsory measures for those who may not continue to be detained before and during the trial, case-handling units adopted the proposals for 64,106 persons, a year-on-year increase of 26.8%. We corrected the sentences of 3,031 criminals who had not been sentenced to actual sentences, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. We deepened the special supervision of property penalty enforcement, put forward 31,464 written corrective opinions, a year-on-year increase of 33%, and promoted the enforcement of 28,052 cases with judgments equivalent to 550 million RMB. We promoted the implementation of supervision measures for those sentenced to community services and reduced the number of leaks Last year, we made corrections for 4,439 people, a year-on-year decrease of 36.8%. In response to problems such as the escape of prisoners from Lingyuan No. 3 Prison that revealed the lack of sensitivity of those stationed to supervise them, we summarized the pilot inspection reform experience from prisons in 12 provinces. The revised Organic Law of the People’s Procuratorates established a “stationed + tour” procuratorial approach.

We focused on the supervision of civil litigation. We used civil protests to strive for accuracy. We focused on typical cases with innovative and guiding value in terms of judicial concepts, policy orientation, and application of law, used protests to play a guiding role in similar cases, and used procuratorial suggestions to promote the correction of other cases that have errors. We filed a total of 3,933 civil protests, a year-on-year increase of 25.1%. Of the 1,982 cases already concluded by the courts,1,499 cases were revised, remanded for retrial, mediated, or withdrawn. We proposed 4,087 procuratorial recommendations for retrial were, an increase of 32.1% year-on-year, and the court has already initiated retrial procedures for 2,132 cases. The SPP filed protests for 33 typical cases, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. Regarding the non-standard delivery of civil announcements reflected in supervision cases, we issued prosecutorial suggestions to the Supreme People’s Court and received a positive response. We severely punished false lawsuits. We worked with the Supreme People’s Court to formulate relevant judicial interpretations and supervised and corrected 1,484 “false lawsuits,” a year-on-year increase of 48.4%. We prosecuted 500 people for suspected crimes, a year-on-year increase of 55.3%. We supervised and supported the court’s enforcement according to law. We proposed 23,814 procuratorial suggestions for selective enforcement and search and seizure outside the proper scope, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year. For those who refused to execute judgments where the circumstances of the ruling were serious, we had 2,376 people arrested, a year-on-year increase of 36.9%.

We strengthened the supervision of administrative litigation. We filed 117 protests against administrative judgments and rulings that were deemed wrong, a year-on-year decrease of 15.8% We made 90 re-examination recommendations, a year-on-year increase of 50%. We focused on supervising cases in the fields of land acquisition, demolition, and social security. We carried out special supervision of administrative non-litigation enforcement, urged administrative institutions to apply for compulsory enforcement in accordance with the law, supervised courts as they reviewed and handled cases in accordance with the law, and put forward 6,528 procuratorial suggestions, of which 5,117 have already been adopted.

We investigated and dealt with crimes committed by judicial personnel in accordance with the law. The criminal procedure law revised in October last year empowers procuratorial institutions to use their power to investigate crimes that violate civil rights and damage judicial impartiality. This is an important institutional design for maintaining judicial impartiality. The SPP issued guiding opinions to promote the standardized performance of duties. The procuratorial institutions of 20 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have already filed cases for and investigated 71 people.

We respected and protected the right of lawyers to practice law. We quickly investigated complaints and appeals that hindered lawyers from exercising their litigation rights and supervised the relevant law enforcement and judicial institutions as they corrected 1,011 cases, an increase of 37.8% year-on-year. We fully implemented electronic files, promoted online file access and interviews in different places, accepted 109,000 online appointment applications from lawyers, and provided as much convenience as possible for lawyers working on their cases. We invited 14,184 lawyers to rotate through assignments at procuratorial institutions to participate in handling litigation-related petition cases and jointly work to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of petitioners.

III. Developed public interest litigation in accordance with the law and fulfilled the noble mission of public welfare protection

We kept in mind the trust placed in us by the Party and the people, implemented a people-centered approach, explored the road of public interest litigation and prosecution with Chinese characteristics, and got off to a good start. Throughout the year, we filed and handled a total of 4,393 civil public interest cases and 108,767 administrative public interest cases. Among these cases, 59,312 were related to ecological environment and resource protection, 41,118 were related to food and drug safety, 10,025 were related to state-owned property protection, 2,648 were related to state-owned land usage rights transfer, and 57 were related to the protection of the rights and interests of heroes. Through case handling, we supervised and urged the governance of 2,110,000 mu (347,595 acres) of farmland, wetland, woodland, and grassland damaged by pollution and supervised the removal of 20 million tons of solid waste and domestic garbage. We supervised and urged the investigation and recovery of 400,000 kilograms of counterfeit and inferior food, and 9,606 kilograms of counterfeit and smuggled drugs. We supervised and urged the recovery of 25.7 billion RMB of state-owned property, recovered 3 billion RMB for ecological restoration and environmental governance, and forced offenders to “pay the bill” to restore damage to the public interest.

We established a philosophy of mutual benefit. Administrative public interest litigation involves the performance of duties by the government. The essence of this work is to assist the government in administering according to the law, jointly safeguard the fundamental interests of the people, and receive strong support from all quarters. The Standing Committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Congress made a special decision concerning procuratorial public interest litigation. The province’s procuratorial institutions conducted a special investigation of 387 small coal mines to close and rectify mines with public welfare protection issues and found 132 clues pointing to violations of laws and regulations and crimes. In cases of damage to public welfare, the competent authorities were urged to perform their duties through procuratorial recommendations, and good results were achieved. In response to issues such as difficulty in determining jurisdiction, difficulty in investigation and collection of evidence, and difficulty in judicial authentication in public interest litigation cases, we worked with the Supreme People’s Court to issue judicial interpretations and signed collaborative opinions with nine ministries and committees including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The procuratorial institutions of Hebei, Shanghai, Guangxi, Shaanxi, and other regions have established cooperative and joint action mechanisms with relevant departments. County-level procuratorates across the country have implemented full coverage of public interest litigation cases.

We viewed the maintenance of public welfare goals before litigation as the optimal state. Procuratorial institutions issued announcements or procuratorial recommendations before litigation, prompting relevant entities to initiate litigation and administrative institutions to perform their duties in accordance with the law. This not only protects public welfare in a timely manner, but also achieves the best social effects with minimal judicial investment. We handled a total of 102,975 pre-litigation procedural cases. Among these cases, we publicly urged relevant social organizations to file 1,721 civil public interest lawsuits. We issued 101,254 procuratorial suggestions to administrative agencies, 97.2% of which were adopted, and more problems were resolved before lawsuits were filed. Changsha Baijiazhou is located in the Xiangjiang River Drinking Water Source Grade I Protection Zone, but directly discharged sewage. After procuratorial institutions issued procuratorial recommendations, the relevant departments made every effort to implement them. They immediately relocated islanders, demolished illegal constructions, and cleaned up catering ships, joining together in a “clear water defensive war.”

We made litigation a vivid lesson in the rule of law. If pre-litigation procuratorial recommendations cannot be effectively implemented, litigation and court trials will be used to promote the resolution of the problem, alert the community, and educate the society. We filed a total of 3,228 public interest lawsuits. Of the 1,526 cases decided by courts, the prosecution’s case was upheld in 1,525. 286 livestock breeders in the prohibited livestock zone along the Lixi River in Rongchang District, Chongqing City violated regulations and directly discharged livestock and poultry manure and sewage. Procuratorial institutions issued procuratorial recommendations to 16 towns and sub-districts and filed a public interest lawsuit against the Guchang town government, which was lax in fulfilling its environmental supervision responsibilities, and obtained court support, which promoted the comprehensive treatment of river pollution in the prohibited livestock zone.

We used the law to defend the dignity of the heroes and martyrs. We seriously implemented the Law on Protection of Heroes and Martyrs and deal with 21 acts that infringed on the names, images, reputation, and honor of heroes and martyrs and harmed the public interests of the society. By issuing announcements or asking for opinions face-to-face, we urged close relatives of the heroes to sue, and procuratorial institutions in Jiangsu, Shandong, and other regions filed six civil public interest lawsuits in cases where lawsuits failed to be initiated. For failures to protect the memorial facilities of heroes and martyrs, 36 procuratorial recommendations were issued to the relevant departments, all of which were adopted, maintaining the dignity of the heroes martyrs and allowing them to rest in peace.

IV. Improved procuratorial and supervision capabilities to meet the higher and stricter requirements of the new era

We conscientiously implemented the requirements of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, deepened reforms and innovations, and made people-centeredness the guide to action for people’s procurators in the new era.

We insisted on putting the Party’s political construction in the first place. We consciously took the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era and the spirit of the Nineteenth Party as our primary political task, organized rotation training and special online training for all staff, and worked to comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping’s new ideas, new ideas, and new strategies for the comprehensive rule of law. We deeply studied and implemented the newly revised Constitution, took the lead in respecting and implementing the Constitution, carried forward the spirit of the Constitution, performed our constitutional duties, safeguarded the dignity of the Constitution, and maintained the authority of the Constitution. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the restoration and reconstruction of procuratorial institutions, we remained true to our original intention, keep our mission firmly in mind, and repack and set off again. We vigorously promoted the spirit of heroes and models, such as “the pioneer of reform” Zhang Biao and “national model prosecutor” Zhou Huiming, and worked to become prosecutors of the new era who are loyal to the Party and serve the people.

We promoted systematic and restructuring reforms of internal institutions. To meet the people’s ever-increasing needs for a better life in the new era, we must first resolve the problem that procuratorial institutions themselves cannot keep up with these needs. We implemented the spirit of the Third Plenum of the Nineteenth Central Committee and viewed the reform of internal institutions as a breakthrough point for the innovative development of procuratorial work, starting with the SPP. The functions of approving arrests and prosecutions are closely related, and we used them to influence the quality and efficiency of case handling, respectively. We integrated arrests and prosecutions and ensured the same case handling organization and the same prosecutor were responsible for arrests and prosecutions for the same case. In response to the continuous increase in civil and administrative appeals and the large backlog of supervision cases, we earnestly implemented the deliberations and opinions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, strove to solve the problem of “emphasizing punishment but neglecting people,” and set up respective civil and administrative procuratorial institutions. We remained faithful to the trust and legal power given to us as the representatives of the public interest, implemented the spirit of the third meeting of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, and set up procuratorial institutions for public interest litigation. In December of last year, we implemented the reform of the internal organization of the SPP and local procuratorial institutions made simultaneous deployments. We vigorously advanced the overall layout of legal supervision of the “Four Major Prosecutions” in criminal, civil, administrative, and public interest litigation.

We deepened judicial system reform. We actively promoted the comprehensive and supporting reforms of the judicial system, constantly improved the classified management of prosecutors and the prosecutor’s case-handling responsibility system, gradually improved the individual job sequence and salary system of prosecutors, and basically implemented the occupational assurance policy for prosecutors. We deepened the reform procuratorial work across administrative divisions and assigned one relevant procuratorate to handle a case involving water pollution in the three provinces of Jiangsu, Henan, and Anhui. We supported Shanghai as it took the lead in exploring an integrated procuratorial coordination mechanism for environmental protection in the Yangtze River Delta. We formulated the procuratorial reform work plan for 2018-2022, in which 46 important reform measures have received much attention and generated high expectations.

We creatively promoted business construction. We carried out large-scale formalized education and training based on different levels and types, and the SPP directly trained 17,000 people, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%. We required leading cadres to take the lead in handling major, difficult, and complicated cases and set an example in standard case handling. The SPP took the lead in implementing the system where chief procurators attended adjudication committee meetings. The chief procurators and deputy chief procurators at all levels attended adjudication committees as non-voting delegates. For the first time, all chief procurators of the provincial procuratorates attended. We build the “Procuratorate Answer Network” specialized platform for grassroots procuratorates to directly connect to the SPP and answered 11,000 questions of all types. Focusing on “Assistance of Intelligence,” the SPP hired 103 experts, scholars, representatives of the legal profession, lawyers, and other personnel to form a case-handling advisory committee. We cooperated with departments in fields such as the ecological environment, market supervision,  and financial supervision to rotate cadres to different posts and steadily improve the professional level of case handling.

We upheld strict management as a form of deep love. The badge of the inspector cannot be covered with dust, and this power must be managed well. We adhered to turning the blade inward and carried out political inspections of Party organizations in nine provincial-level procuratorates and four department-level units in two rounds. At the National Prosecutors’ Meeting, the problems found during the inspections were reported by name, causing real blushes and sweat. We consciously accepted the supervision of commissions for discipline inspection at all levels and their accredited agencies, 774 prosecutors were investigated and punished for violations of discipline and law, a year-on-year increase of 44.4%. We announced 49 typical cases of violations of discipline and law by prosecutors and strengthened warning education. We strictly implemented the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation and their implementation rules and persevered in rectifying the “Four Malfeasances.”

V. Accepted the supervision of the people and ensured the standard exercise of procuratorial power

The people’s procuratorates thoroughly make the people the center of our work. We must be responsible to the people, subject to the people’s supervision, and work hard to correctly complete the tests the people give us.

We consciously accepted the supervision of the National People’s Congress. A teleconference of level-four procuratorates was held to convey and implement the spirit of the first meeting of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress. We reported to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the legal supervision of civil litigation and enforcement activities and accepted the thematic questions for the first time. We actively communicated with the NPC Constitution and Law Committee, the NPC Supervisory and Judicial Committee, and the Legislative Affairs Committee of the NPC Standing Committee and took our responsibility for making legislative suggestions seriously. We carefully handled 124 suggestions from deputies, made contact before handling, communicated during handling, and followed up after handling. We carefully handled and provided good feedback on the petitions from the masses forwarded by the NPC Standing Committee. We comprehensively sorted out the 3,293 opinions and suggestions put forward by NPC deputies during deliberation reports, inspections, and discussions and earnestly studied and implemented them. We recruited 98 NPC deputies as special supervisors, invited 365 deputies to inspect and participate in the public review of cases, and accepted supervision from close range.

We consciously accepted democratic supervision. We took the initiative to report work to the CPPCC National Committee. We invited members of the CPPCC National Committee to inspect and investigate. We conscientiously concluded and answered all 47 CPPCC proposals. We visited the central committees of the democratic parties one by one, carried out full communication and exchanges, and sincerely listened to supervisory opinions. We established a working mechanism with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce to share information and work together to serve the healthy development of the private economy.

We consciously accepted constraints on our performance of our duties. We reviewed the files of cases brought by prosecutors that resulted in an acquittal in court to find any problems and use them to improve the quality of review and prosecution in the future. We carefully reviewed cases where approval was not given for arrest or prosecution that were submitted for reconsideration by public security institutions in accordance with the law and changed the original decision for 773 persons, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%. We gave importance to the opinions of judicial administrative organs and creatively carried out prison inspections to obtain support.

We consciously promoted justice through openness. We upgraded the construction of the 12309 Procuratorial Service Center, and the procuratorates at the four levels simultaneously improved the three platforms of physical entities, hotlines, and networks to provide one-stop services. We used multiple media formats to publish 2.26 million pieces of case-handling information and 1.11 million copies of legal documents so that the people could evaluate if the cases were decided fairly. We normalized the “Open Procuratorate Day,” and 135,000 people from all walks of life walked into procuratorates and approached prosecutors to learn about supervision and procuratorial work. “The Chief Prosecutor Said,” “Guardians of Tomorrow,” and other features appeared in the central media, and prosecution-related stories “flew into the homes of ordinary people” with the help of all media.

Fellow delegates, in the past year, we have taken the initiative to serve to ensure the implementation of the national strategy. The Conference on the Promotion of Procuratorial Work Development in Old Revolutionary Areas, Ethnic Areas, Border Areas, and Poverty-stricken Areas was held in Xinjiang. It formulated the “30 Opinions” for procuratorial counterpart assistance in order to implement procuratorial assistance for Tibet and Xinjiang and support the procuratorial work arrangements of the former Central Soviet Area in Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong. We actively integrated ourselves into the comprehensive revitalization of the Northeast, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development and construction of the Xiongan New Area, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the construction of the Hainan Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in order to provide effective rule of law services.

We attached great importance to the protection of the rights and interests of special groups. We cooperated with women’s federations at all levels to safeguard the rights and interests of women and children and prosecuted 2,1949 people for crimes against the rights of women, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%. We ensured that migrant workers were paid in accordance with the law, prosecuted 2,361 people who committed malicious late payment of wages, and supported migrant workers in prosecuting 11,054 cases, year-on-year increases of 1.4% and 105.2% respectively. We prosecuted 41,478 people for crimes infringing on the rights and interests of the elderly, a year-on-year decrease of 6.1%, and highlighted the punishment of crimes of defrauding the elderly by claiming to invest in old-age care and healthcare. We resolutely punished crimes infringing on the rights and interests of persons with disabilities, prosecuting 5,439 people, the same number as the previous year. We promoted the construction of harmonious doctor-patient relationships, continued to severely punish crimes such as violently wounding doctors and gathering crowds to disturb doctors, and prosecuted 3,202 people, a year-on-year decrease of 29%.

We firmly safeguarded the interests of national defense and the legitimate rights and interests of military personnel. We strengthened liaison with representatives of the People’s Congress of the People’s Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force, improved the mechanisms for coordination between the military and local procuratorates, supported military procuratorial organs in the performance of their duties in accordance with the law, and focused on serving the development of military-civil fusion. We prosecuted 407 people for crimes involving the military, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%. We promptly provided 122 military members and veterans who suffered unlawful infringements with judicial assistance. We proactively established a working mechanism with the Department of Veterans Affairs to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of retired soldiers.

We keep the affection of our compatriots in our mind, properly handled cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in accordance with the law, and earnestly safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, overseas Chinese, and overseas Chinese who have returned to China, and their relatives. We prosecuted 10,115 people in cases involving Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese, a year-on-year decrease of 25.9%. We cooperated with the Procuratorate of the Macao Special Administrative Region in informatization construction. We guided the People’s Procuratorate of Fujian Province to formulate the “18 Opinions” to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Taiwanese compatriots and Taiwanese enterprises.

We actively integrated into the comprehensive diplomatic layout to better serve the construction of the “Belt and Road.” We hosted sub-forums of the World Internet Conference, strengthened practical cooperation with the prosecutors of ASEAN member states, SCO member states, and the International Prosecutors Federation, deepened the direct cooperation between procuratorial institutions in border areas such as the China-Vietnam, China-Kazakhstan, and China-Nepal borders, and strove to make Chinese contributions to global governance in order to further spread China’s wisdom in the rule of law and China’s procuratorial voice.

Fellow deputies, the development and progress of procuratorial work in the past year is the result of the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. It is the result of the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era. It is also the result of the strong supervision of the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, the strong support of the State Council, and the democratic supervision of the National Committee of the CPPCC. Likewise, it is inseparable from the cooperation and constraint of the National Supervision Commission and the Supreme People’s Court as well as the attention and assistance of democratic parties, the Federation of Industry and Commerce, people’s organizations, people without party affiliation, local Party and government agencies at all levels, representatives, committee members, and other people from all walks of life. On behalf of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks!

We are soberly aware that there are still many outstanding problems in procuratorial work. First, the pertinence and effectiveness of our service to economic and social development need to be enhanced. Problems of simplistic case handling and mechanical justice still exist. Second, the development of various procuratorial work is uneven, and civil and administrative procuratorial work is particularly weak at the grassroots level. Third, the quality and efficiency of judicial case handling need to be improved. Some protests and procuratorial suggestions are of low quality, many supervisory opinions are not followed up on after they are issued, and judicial irregularities occur from time to time. Fourth, the political and professional quality of the team still needs to be strengthened, and the shortage of professionals in civil and commercial affairs, finance, networks, and the ecological environment needs to be improved. Many city and county procuratorates cannot attract or retain talent. Fifth, there are many problems involving the violation of discipline and law by prosecutors. This issue is still increasing and requires a high level of attention. Sixth, the basic work at the grassroots level still needs to be strengthened. Some reform measures have not been implemented, and some have become distorted during implementation. The level of informatization and intelligence of procuratorial work needs to be improved. Problems keep you vigilant, and responsibilities force you to take action. We must keep our eyes on these problems and strive to solve them.

Work Arrangements for 2019

To do a good job in the procuratorial work for this year, the most fundamental thing is to adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply study and implement the spirit of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches at the Central Political and Legal Work Conference and the special seminar for key provincial and ministerial-level leaders, uphold the Party’s absolute leadership over procuratorial work, resolutely maintain the core position of General Secretary Xi Jinping, resolutely maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership, and consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in ideological and political actions. The most critical thing is to adhere to the people-centered approach, adapt to the people’s ever-increasing need for a better life, and shoulder the responsibilities of safeguarding national political security, ensuring the overall stability of society, promoting social fairness and justice, and ensuring that the people live and work in peace and contentment. The most important thing is to adhere to the general tone of the work of seeking progress while maintaining stability, adopt a spirit of advocating hard work and vigorous implementation and a consciousness of significantly improving political and professional quality, faithfully perform the legal supervision duties entrusted by the Constitution and law, strengthen bottom-line thinking, focus on preventing and resolving major risks, and strive to provide higher-level rule of law services to win a decisive victory in building a well-off society in an all-round way.

First, we must grasp the overall situation of “stable progress” and ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the economy and society in accordance with the law. We must focus on stabilizing growth, promoting reform, structural adjustment, benefiting the people’s livelihood, preventing risks, and ensuring stability and base ourselves on the prosecution function to act proactively and provide precise services. We must always take the maintenance of political security as our top priority and resolutely crack down on all kinds of infiltration, subversion, sabotage, violent terrorist activities, ethnic separatist activities, and religious extremist activities. We must give full play to the functions of approving arrests and prosecutions, and effectively advance the special struggle against organized crime in accordance with the law, keep a close eye on major crimes involving organized crime, the economic foundation of organized crime, and the “relationship networks” and “protective umbrella” behind criminal organizations and work hard to fight and prevent both the symptoms and the root causes. We must resolutely punish serious violent crimes and punish crimes such as trafficking in women and children, burglary, robbery, and theft, telecommunications and network fraud, firearms and explosives, pornography, gambling, and pyramid schemes in accordance with the law. We will fight for the three tough battles with more precise services and increase efforts to combat crimes in areas such as risk prevention, poverty alleviation, and ecological and environmental protection. We must severely punish crimes such as infringement of intellectual property rights, production and sale of counterfeit goods, illegal fund-raising, false invoices and tax fraud, and other crimes that seriously disrupt the order of the market economy and make the rule of law the optimal business environment. We must strengthen the equal protection of property rights in accordance with the law, improve the mechanisms for preventing enterprise-related erroneous cases at the source, give entrepreneurs an expectation of long-term security and reliability, and let them operate and develop freely. We must severely punish crimes in the fields of education, medical care, social security, and food and drug safety and protect the bottom line of the rule of law with respect to the people’s livelihood. We must further strengthen the judicial protection of minors, systematically do a good job in judicial case handling, rights protection, and crime prevention, and conduct the work of the chief prosecutors as deputy principals for the rule of law in an in-depth manner. We must improve the supervisory and inspection linkage and cooperation mechanisms, punish crimes involving official duties in accordance with the law, and give full play to its functional role in the fight against corruption. We must support the construction of national defense and the army, resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of military service members and veterans, and cooperate with the army to implement the second half articles (下篇文章) to completely stop paid services. We must actively participate in social governance, deeply analyze the problematic tendencies and management loopholes reflected in cases, promptly put forward procuratorial suggestions, strive to handle one case and manage one area, and encourage the whole society to strengthen the concept of the rule of law and strengthen their belief in the rule of law.

Second, we must grasp the focal point of “implementation” and promote the implementation of major deployments. All important decisions and deployments made by the Party Central Committee must be resolutely implemented in accordance with the actual procuratorial work. We must be meticulous and thorough. We must earnestly implement the revised Criminal Procedure Law and the Organic Law of the People’s Procuratorates, insist on supervising and handling cases under supervision, and perform various procuratorial duties well. We must standardize the exercise of functions and powers, focus on improving the quality of procuratorial suggestions, comprehensively promote open prison inspections, and investigate and deal with crimes involving official duties by judicial personnel in accordance with the law. We must refine the implementation of opinions on comprehensively deepening reforms in the field of political and legal affairs, fully grasp the five-year plan for procuratorial reform, promote reforms to achieve new breakthroughs from a higher starting point,  and continuously develop and improve the socialist procuratorial system with Chinese characteristics. We must promote the implementation of the reform of the internal institutions of local procuratorial institutions, strengthen the procuratorial force of civil, administrative, and public interest litigation cases, and comprehensively coordinate and fully develop the Four Major Prosecutions.” We must fully implement the judicial accountability system and encourage prosecutors to perform their duties diligently and handle cases well. We must improve the dynamic management system for the selection of prosecutors, withdraw those who do not meet the requirements, and supplement those who meet the requirements. We must strictly regulate judicial reforms, with important procuratorial reform measures reported to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. We must deepen the construction of intelligent procuratorial affairs, coordinate the R&D of intelligent auxiliary case handling and management systems, promote the in-depth integration of scientific and technological (S&T) innovation results with procuratorial work, and help improve judicial quality, efficiency, and credibility.

Third, we must grasp the goal of “enhancement.” The procuratorial work in the new era must have a new atmosphere and new actions. We must strengthen the revolutionized, standardized, specialized, and professionalized construction of procuratorial teams. We must deeply study and implement the CCP’s political and legal affairs work regulations, solidly carry out thematic education on “remain true to our original intention and keep our mission firmly in mind,” promote the study and discussion of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era in routine work, and make the Party’s political construction more realistic. We must vigorously promote high-quality and high-standard professional training, cultivate professional capabilities, and promote a spirit of professionalism. We must give full play to the advantages of the integration of arrest and prosecution in improving the quality and efficiency of case handling and improve supporting mechanisms such as judicial case handling, work guidance, and supervision and constraint. We must intensify the supervision of deep-level violation problems in civil litigation, unremittingly strengthen the supervision of civil enforcement, focus on handling typical cases with demonstrative and guiding significance, and enhance the effectiveness of civil procuratorial work. We must make great efforts to make up for the shortcomings of administrative prosecution, strengthen the supervision of administrative litigation, maintain judicial impartiality, and promote administration according to law. We must improve procuratorial institutions for public interest litigation, pay attention to supervision and regulation, explore and expand the scope of case handling, and pay more attention to quality and results. We must firmly establish the concept that supervisors must accept supervision even more than others, adhere to strict observance above all else, deepen the construction of Party style, clean government, and anti-corruption work in procuratorial institutions, deepen inspections and investigations within the system, resolutely rectify judicial irregularities and injustices, and be loyal, clean, and responsible. We must strengthen the leadership and guidance responsibilities of higher-level procuratorates, deepen the political and professional construction of grass-roots procuratorates, and further give priority to the grassroots level in the protection of people, funds, and property, and consolidate the foundation of procuratorial work for the people.

Fellow deputies, riding the east wind of reform and opening up, the People’s Procuratorate has played an increasingly prominent role in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics over the past 40 years since our restoration and reconstruction. Standing in a new historical position, procuratorial institutions across the country will be more closely united around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. Guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will earnestly implement the requirements of this National People’s Congress, build up our confidence, faithfully perform our duties, and greet the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China with outstanding achievements!