China’s private sector businesses have been promised more legal protection from the country’s top prosecutors, who pledged on Tuesday to crack down on illegal investigations targeting them.
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The promise came a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with high-profile entrepreneurs in a push to offer assurances as the country faces increasing economic headwinds at home and abroad.
Du Xueyi, head of economic crime prosecution under the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, said that Beijing would “resolutely correct profit-driven illegal law enforcement, such as illegal case filings, involvement in economic disputes, cross-regional arrests, and unlawful sealing, confiscation or freezing of assets”.
Prosecutors would also focus on using modern technologies and improve cross-regional coordination to clean up outstanding criminal cases involving companies this year, he added.
In 2024, Chinese prosecutors cleared 2,390 criminal cases involving private companies out of the more than 2,900 they had reviewed, according to Ge Xiaoyan, China’s deputy procurator-general.
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China’s private sector has struggled with low business and consumer confidence amid a sluggish domestic economic recovery, and worsening geopolitical tensions with the United States.