Even as China works its way up as a market oriented economy, a widely held belief is that China's judicial system is failing in its role as an independent and impartial arbitrator of the rule of law. With the judiciary playing an increasing important role in driving a market economy, it is now being widely accepted in China that the judicial reforms; aimed at creating a fair, efficient and predictable dispute settlement and criminal justice system are a must.

The susceptible of Chinese judiciary to outside interferences, of power, money and bureaucratic influence is well- known.

Now, in an apparent effort to off-set allegations of an opaque judicial system and improve its human rights record, China has mapped out plans to bring about deeper reforms in its judiciary and criminal justice system, promising to ensure their independence and impartiality.

Paramilitary soldiers march as they patrol around the Tiananmen square and the Great Hall of the People where the Chinese Communist Party plenum is being held, is seen in the background in Beijing, November 12, 2013. China's leaders will unveil a reform agenda for the next decade on Tuesday, seeking to balance the need to overhaul the world's second-largest economy as it loses steam with preserving stability and to reinforce the Communist Party's power. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

A communiqué from the recently concluded, Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in Beijing speaks of government plans to promote comprehensive reforms, including judicial reforms and reducing the power of provincial governments that oversee the functioning of the local court system.

China's effort is to improve the socialist judicial system maintaining its Chinese characteristics. The reform plan if goes through, will be the second major initiative by communist China to improve its judicial system after 2008.

On Oct. 8, 2012, China had issued a White Paper on China's judicial reform outlining the efforts made to complete the round of judicial reform launched in 2008.

Commenting on release of the White Paper, Hu Shuli's column republished by South China Morning Post said, the document placed judicial reform squarely at the heart of the country's political reforms.

"Judicial reform will strengthen China's rule of law. Not only is it necessary for political reform to work, but it also provides the legal safeguards that would protect reforms in other areas. The flagrant abuses uncovered in the cases of Gu Kailai, Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai bring home the critical importance of the rule of law," the column notes.

"According to legal principles, the rule of law empowers the judicial authorities to prevent the abuse of powers, privileges and discretion. Therefore, before judicial independence can exist, judicial powers should be free from manipulation and erosion by power and money. This is the bottom line of the rule of law," Ms. Shuli writes.

In preparation for the Third Plenary Session, the Commission of Politics and Law of the CPC Central Committee had in January 2013 proposed judicial reforms focusing on improving the justice system and law enforcement mechanism.

The recommendations by the Commission were aimed at improving the distribution of judicial power and procedural system in the country. It sought to strengthen supervision of judicial powers, expand ways which would bring about the orderly participation by citizens in judicial activities and importantly to promote judicial transparency.

The objective of its recommendations for judicial reforms, as outlined by the Commission was to create a fair, efficient and authoritative socialist judiciary system, even as its credibility was being ensured.

Even China's Supreme People's Court has undertaken a number of initiatives in an attempt to ensure transparent proceedings, improve authority of trial judges, and encourage the involvement of litigants and their lawyers.

On Oct. 28, the Supreme Court issued an opinion outlining the need for courts to be able to independently exercise their judicial powers without interference of power, money and relations.

The opinion of the Supreme Court was seen as an effort to improving the judicial mechanism of the country, to ensure its independence and impartiality in the exercise of its constitutional powers.

With another set of judicial reforms in China round the corner, all eyes will be on the ability of the country's political establishment to ensure the independence of the judiciary at the local level. The obvious need is for China to ensure proper training of it judicial officers, improve litigation procedures, provide protection to litigants and whistleblowers, ensure availability of personnel and funding, and cracking down hard on corruption.