How China’s Supreme People’s Court Supports the Development of Foreign-Related Rule of Law

Abstract

This article provides a detailed analysis of the evolution of the role of the Supreme People’s Court (spc) in the Xi Jinping era, examining functions little explored in scholarship. It explains how and why the spc supports national strategies, focusing on the development of “foreign-related rule of law” through multiple “active” functions. It explores that work in the context of strengthened Communist Party leadership of the courts and other legal institutions. The article examines the spc’s functions of “policy-making,” “law-making,” case hearing, and coordinating and cooperating with central Party and state institutions and how they are used to support the development of “foreign-related rule of law.” The discussion of those functions also illustrates the impact of strengthened Communist Party leadership. The Politburo’s 2023 collective study session on foreign-related rule of law signals that the spc’s foreign-related judicial expertise as exercised through its multiple functions is crucially important to the Party leadership. The article illustrates one aspect of the unique role of the spc as China’s highest court in its dynamic political-legal system and the way in which it supports evolving national strategies and the implementation of fundamental policies.