The Chinese Judicial Studies Association was launched on July 4, with Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court, elected as its president.

Zhou said in his acceptance speech that the association will be built into a judicial studies platform for people from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and other places. It will help promote rule of law in China and play a role in the rise of the Chinese nation, he said.

The judiciary system, he said, plays the role of a “control valve” in promoting social justice and order.

The association’s mission, he said, is to provide a research venue for judicial professionals and it will design research projects and organize academic activities to promote academic exchanges and will get an information data base for the judicature and increase communication via the Internet.

Zhou called on all members of the association to pay more attention to comparative and applied judicial studies and focus on the important theoretical and current issues concerning China’s judicial development.