The Project Updates keeps the public informed of the latest activities undertaken as part of the GBCC exchange programme. This key area of the Centre’s work aims to build understanding between the UK and China through supporting key areas of China’s reform effort, and promoting best practice developed by British institutions. The next Project Updates will be published in Summer 2007.

January 2008, Issue 15

LEGAL DEVELOPMENT & CRIMINAL JUSTICE

JUDICIAL STUDIES TRAINING PROGRAMME (Ministry of Justice funded 2007-8)

The 10th year judges are now in their 2nd term of LLM studies at SOAS. As the first group of judges studying for an LLM degree since the programme started they have begun to feel the pressure of exams and essay writing. Apart from their academic studies, the judges are taking part in professional meetings and discussions with legal practitioners in London. In November 2007, they were invited by TaylorWessing Law Firm to give a presentation to their lawyers on Chinese intellectual property law.  GBCC is exploring ways to adjust this programme to ensure value for money.

DEATH PENALTY PROJECT  (EU-funded 2007-9)

The research into death penalty case files, general population public opinion survey and expert opinion surveys that began at the end of last summer are continuing. We hope initial results from the general population survey managed by the Max-Planck Institute and the expert survey managed by Wuhan University will be available for discussion in April. Meanwhile, with funding from the British Embassy, Beijing Global Opportunities Fund, the team from Beijing Normal University has continued research into death penalty case files, These results will also be analysed in discussions with UK experts in the Spring. In the latter half of this year the project will continue with a study visit to UK and another European country for senior officials and a series of high-level seminars culminating in a recommendation to the NPC.

COMBATING TORTURE PROJECT (EU funded 2006-8)

The next major activity, just getting underway, is a 6 month pilot project to promote an independent monitor visitor scheme in Jilin, for which the British Embassy GOF have agreed to fund 3 months of activities. After training, visitors will make scheduled and unscheduled visits to a police detention centre to improve accountability. EU partners are meeting to discuss how instruments used in the police training in Dalian, North East China last August can be edited into a more user-friendly handbook or module to allow this instruction to be ‘cascaded’ down through the forces that attended the training. In terms of media coverage, an article, the final one in a series, on the importance of technology as a means of supervising, monitoring and training interviewers was published in the influential Chinese newspaper, the Legal Daily.

LAWYERS CODE OF CONDUCT PROJECT (Dutch Embassy funded)

A seminar on Legal Service Reform and Professional Ethics of Lawyers in China was held on 8 and 9 December in Beijing. This seminar was the final activity for the Effective Defence Lawyers Project funded by Dutch Embassy and in co-operation with the Institute of Law under the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The two day seminar was well received by about 70 participants, which included senior officials, judges, prosecutors and lawyers. Grand Justice Mr Xiong Xuanguo from the Supreme People’s Court, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Mr Dai Yuzhong from the Supreme People Procuraterater, the president of All China Lawyers Association, Mr Yun Ning as well as senior officials from Ministry of Justice have took part in discussions along with seven EU experts from the Netherlands, UK and Portugal.  The seminar covered a wide range of issues regarding lawyers’ professional ethics and strengthening the criminal defence. It also provided an opportunity to introduce the draft Lawyers Code of Conduct prepared by CASS and invited comments and suggestions for further improvement from the participants. The draft is one of the outputs of the Effective Defence Lawyers project.

JUDICIAL MANAGEMENT (2007-8 GOF funded)

This new GBCC project aims to contribute to the reform of the judicial management system and improvement of judicial professionalism in China. Following the two day seminar on the professionalisation of judges in Liuyang at the end of November 2007, his Honour Jiang Bixin, now Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court will lead a delegation of four judges from several courts in Hunan Province to visit the UK in February 2008. The delegation will hold discussions and meetings at the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Appointment Commission and Judicial Studies Board. They will also visit Guildford District Court where the practice of a judicial appraisal system is of particular interest to them.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REVIEW (GOF-funded 2008)

We have been commissioned by the FCO to conduct a review of all FCO-sponsored CSR projects in China. A China-based consultant is conducting interviews, distributing questionnaires and writing a report on the successes and failures of previous projects and recommendations for future areas of engagement. In January 2008 the GBCC carried out three seminars on Corporate Social Responsibility in China. These drew together participants from business, NGOs and public bodies to gather information on the state of CSR in China for the review of CSR projects the GBCC is currently carrying out for the FCO. The internal report will be completed by the project consultant and reviewed by the Nottingham University CSR Institute in order to be submitted to the FCO by the end of March 2008. Discussions over the focus of the external report are continuing.

POLICE

IMPROVING MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE (2008 GOF funded)

In November the Centre submitted a bid, in co-operation with the Crown Prosecution Service, to run a project on improving mutual legal assistance with China in 2008. The Centre has now been awarded money for the programme. The implementation of the project, involving multiple UK and Chinese law enforcement and prosecution agencies will take place over the next few months culminating in a visit to China in May/June. Negotiations on the details of the project continue but it is planned to complete in summer 2008.

BILATERAL EXCHANGE

The first meeting of the Forum was held at Ditchley Park 16-18 November. The event provided a unique meeting point for MPs from the three main UK parties and the Chinese Communist Party.  It was generally agreed that discussions had been more candid and interactive than usual and that this event marked the beginning of a process of dialogue.  The Forum was supported financially by BP and Rolls-Royce and each company was represented at Ditchley. The Forum has received the endorsement of the two Prime Ministers during Gordon Brown’s recent visit to Beijing as an annual event.  The GBCC is working on this year’s arrangement which will be held in China between 8-16 September.

GREAT BRITAIN-CHINA CENTRE NEWS

Leading crime author Qiu Xiaolong gave a talk at the GBCC on Wednesday 6 February on his new novel Red Mandarin Dress. The GBCC has signed a partner agreement with the 2008 arts festival "China Now" which will help to improve publicity for this event and future events this year.

CHINA REVIEW

See the China Review newsletter, circulated quarterly and primarily electronically, free of charge, to all those with an interest in contemporary China. To contribute or be included on the subscription list contact william.taylor@gbcc.org.uk