In 2008, Wang Shengjun became President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of the People’s Republic of China.  China’s constitution vests judicial power in a system of “people’s courts,” with the Supreme People's Court as the highest court in the country.  The lower courts consist of the High People's Courts, the Intermediate People's Courts, and the Primary People's Courts.  The Supreme People’s Court (SPC), composed of a number of tribunals and administrative divisions, serves as the highest trial court in China, as well as the highest supervising organ over the lower courts.  The SPC includes over 200 justices, including the president, vice presidents, presiding judges, vice presiding judges and judges of the various tribunals. 

Within China’s Communist system, the SPC is subordinate to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee.  The NPC thus retains the power of appointment and removal of the SPC’s president, who may serve up to two consecutive five-year terms.  Other justices of the SPC are appointed and removed by the Standing Committee of the NPC.  The Standing Committee also holds the power of constitutional interpretation, rather than judicial review exercised by the courts.  The SPC, however, retains authority to interpret other laws.

Since becoming the Chief Justice of China, Wang Shengjun has engaged in substantial judicial outreach towards other countries to further judicial cooperation and assistance, especially in areas where China has strong economic and trading ties.  For example, the Chief Justice recently visited Russia in an effort to strengthen Sino-Russian judicial cooperation and to facilitate social and economic development.  During the visit, Chief Justice Wang met with Vyacheslav Lebedev, Chief Justice of Russia's Supreme Court, and other senior Russian judges.  Chief Justice Wang said that cooperation was necessary between China and Russia, given their shared border (facilitating cross-border crimes) and threats of terrorism and separatism. 

Chief Justice Wang also visited Ukraine to improve judicial exchanges and cooperation.  He met with the Chief Justice of Ukraine's Supreme Court, Vasyl Onopenko, and the President of Ukraine's Constitutional Court, Andriy Stryzhak.  In addition to Russia and Ukraine, the Chinese judiciary has engaged in recent outreach efforts with Mongolia, where Chief Justice Wang met with Mongolian Chief Justice Sodnomdarjaa Batdelger, and Jamsran Byambadorj, President of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia.  Chief Justice Wang remarked that China's National Judges College has trained 75 Mongolian judges in three training sessions since 2007.

On the death penalty issue, Chief Justice Wang has adopted a stance that is tougher than that of his predecessor. According to China’s official news agency, Xinhua, Chief Justice Wang has told lower court judges not to shy away from imposing the death penalty and other severe sentences for a variety of crimes.  The previous president of the Supreme People's Court, however, had campaigned to reduce death sentences and impose them only for the most heinous crimes.  Xinhua quoted Chief Justice Wang as saying that tough punishments are needed to “increase the sense of security among the people” and to maintain public order. Even so, in 2007, China implemented reforms of the death penalty law requiring that the SPC approve all death sentences. 

Wang Shengjun was born in October 1946 in Anhui Province.  He graduated from the department of history at Hefei Normal Institute and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1972, later serving as a member of the 16^th CPC Central Committee and the 15^th CPC Central Committee’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.  He continues to serve as a member of the 17^th CPC Central Committee.  From 1993-2008, he served on the CPC Central Committee’s Political Science and Law Committee, first as Deputy Secretary-General (1993-1998) and then as Secretary-General (1998-2008).  Prior to joining the leadership of the CPC’s Central Committees, Chief Justice Wang served from 1985 through the early 1990s as the provincial head of Public Security in Anhui Province and the Political Science and Law Committee of the provincial CPC Central Committee.  Before these positions, and after finishing his education and joining the CPC in 1972, he held various posts within the local and provincial party organizations.