Helping debt-laden companies stay afloat and resolving contractual disputes are among the top priorities for China’s courts this year, amid the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, reported the South China Morning Post.
But the country’s top court also said it would defend China’s interests in response to overseas lawsuits against Beijing demanding reparations for the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Delivering his annual report to the legislature on Monday, Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court, said the courts must support Beijing’s efforts to revive the economy, secure jobs, and ensure that people’s livelihoods and companies survived.
“We will help mediate disputes related to the epidemic, properly apply the rules of force majeure, and steer all contractual parties to jointly share the burden so that we can ride out this difficult time together,” Zhou said. He pledged that the courts would do their utmost to help small and medium-sized businesses get through the crisis, protect jobs and promote employment.