China redoubles efforts to resolve administrative disputes

BEIJING -- China has intensified efforts to resolve administrative disputes by making full use of the administrative reconsideration system, an official said Friday.

In the first half of 2024, administrative agencies for justice across the country received 292,000 administrative reconsideration cases and concluded 225,000 of them, said Kong Xiangquan, an official of China's Ministry of Justice, at a press conference.

Administrative reconsideration serves as both a supervisory mechanism to correct government errors and a relief system for resolving administrative disputes, making it a key channel for safeguarding the rights and interests of individuals and businesses, Kong explained.

He said that compared to the same period in 2023, the number of newly accepted administrative reconsideration cases has increased by 150 percent, attributing this growth to the revision of the Law on Administrative Reconsideration, which expanded the system to accommodate a broader range of administrative disputes.

Kong noted that 202,000 concluded cases, or nearly 90 percent of all such cases, were resolved without resorting to administrative lawsuits, marking a 12.6 percentage point increase from the previous year.

The administrative reconsideration system has also continued to play a crucial role in fostering a favorable business environment, according to Kong.

He said that in the first half of this year, 23,000 administrative reconsideration cases filed by business entities were concluded.