The Supreme People's Court President Wang Shengjun called on Tuesday for redoubled efforts to provide judicial support to ensure steady and relatively rapid growth of China's economy.

Wang made the remarks in a work trip to the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, warning that problems China faced amid the global economic meltdown might translate into "legal cases of new challenges to the country's courts."

He urged courts at all levels to keep in sight the "big picture" while exercising their power in order to enhance enterprises' capacity to withstand the financial crisis, and try to mediate disputes so as to forge benign competition in the market.

Efforts should be made to further ensure social justice, strike hard on law-breaking activities to safeguard economic development, and resolve conflicts to protect social stability, he said.

Wang urged the courts to pay special attention to the handling of cases involving enterprise bankruptcy, and unemployment.

China's courts and procuratorates have repeatedly offered to help build a favorable environment for the country's economic growth.

In a recently passed work report of the Supreme People's Court, it ordered courts all levels to "prudently use such compulsory measures as sealing up, impounding or freezing assets of companies," and "promptly offer judiciary advisories to help enterprises in operational difficulty tide over economic woes."

Analysts believe the rationale underlining the policy is that law enforcement should disrupt businesses as little as possible during the global economic downturn.

However, the move stirred criticism from some deputies attending the annual session of country's top legislature, the National People's Congress, which concluded on March 13.

Lawmaker Peng Xuefeng, director of the All China Lawyers Association, believed the policy "goes against the spirit of fairness and justice inherent in the law."

"In the long run, it will affect a normal market order featuring fair competition," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2009)