Courts across China should help address the disputes between the government and the people to prevent mass incidents and maintain social harmony amid the global financial crisis, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Sunday.

According to a circular issued by the SPC, a large number of disputes between the people and the government have emerged as China is affected by the global financial crisis.

"To tackle the financial crisis, the government has carried out a series of effective measures to ensure economic growth through administrative means, which, inevitably, affected the interests of some people or organizations... causing a sharp increase in disputes in some industries," the circular said.

Most of the such disputes centered on labor security issues caused by poor management of businesses, and land disputes in both urban and rural areas caused by the home-coming of migrant workers and the public investment projects in the economic stimulus plan of the government, it said.

"These disputes would lead to unexpected and extreme mass incidents if not properly addressed, and would exert a bad influence on social harmony and people's well-being," the circular said.

The document promised timely actions to protect the legitimate interests of the people.

"Attempts to form local protectionism and monopoly of industries made in the name of tackling the financial crisis and affected the legitimate interests of other citizens and organizations must be corrected according to the laws," it said.

However, it also demanded the courts to support the government's crisis-tackling measures should they be in line with the country's laws and regulations, by taking into accounts their necessity in the current situation while hearing administrative dispute cases.

Courts at all levels should focus on "providing judiciary guarantee" for economic growth, people's well-being, and the country's stability as the priority of their work, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2009)