China set to introduce major legal reforms

Beijing

CHINA is set to unveil key legal reforms this week that will try to limit the influence local officials have on court cases, a move being closely watched by company executives who hope it will make the legal system more impartial.

The announcement is expected at the end of an Oct 20-23 meeting of the ruling Communist Party elite, which has made the "rule of law" the theme of the gathering. The meeting, called a plenum, comes at a time when slowing economic growth in the world's second-largest economy is raising the prospect of more commercial disputes.

The business community, in particular Chinese private firms and foreign investors, have long complained about the difficulty of getting a fai…