Legal Reform in China: Problems and Prospects

On Monday, April 18, 2005, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Asia Foundation held a joint conference on “Legal Reform in China: Problems and Prospects.” The conference gathered leading experts from China and the United States to discuss the efforts that China has undertaken to reform its judicial and administrative systems. Co-organized by Dr. Veron Hung of the Carnegie Endowment and Ms. Nancy Yuan of the Asia Foundation, the event drew a capacity crowd of approximately 140 participants from China, the United States, and Europe. Distinguished guests included the Honorable Zhou Wenzhong, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States, and the Honorable S. Jay Plager, Senior Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The event’s keynote address was given by the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In addition, Ambassador Zhou also delivered remarks on Sino-American relations and legal reform in China. The following is a summary of the second panel of the conference.