The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) reviewed on August 23 the bill of judicial immunity of forced measures to assets of foreign central banks in China.

In the statement to the Committee's 17th conference in Beijing, Wu Dawei, deputy Foreign Minister, expounded that China has long supported and adhered to the principle of judicial immunity for state and its assets in line with the international law. In China's judicial practice, Chinese courts neither execute jurisdiction, nor take any forced measures, on foreign central banks. However, this has not been enshrined in the Chinese law.

Wu said foreign central banks' assets in Hong Kong were subject to the UK State Immunity Act until HK returned to China. The absence of statutes governing the foreign central banks' assets after the British law was no longer applicable in HKSAR aroused concerns of some foreign banks. At the end of 2000, the HKSAR government put forward a proposal to the central government of defining the judicial immunity for foreign central banks' assets by legislation. Under the approval of the State Council, the Foreign Ministry worked with the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and the Supreme People's Court and drafted the resolution of judicial immunity of forced measures for foreign central banks' assets. The State Council has nodded the draft.

Wu noted that the resolution, once passed by the Standing Committee of the NPC, would be applied on foreign central banks' assets in the Chinese mainland, and on those in HKSAR and Macao SAR. In line with the basic law of HKSAR and the basic law of Macao SAR, the resolution will also be included into annex 3 of the two basic laws by the Standing Committee of the NPC.

By People's Daily Online