Analysis: Beijing’s Push for Judicial Checks on Asset Seizures Signals Bid to Reassure Private Sector
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The recently released proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan call for strengthening the law enforcement and judicial protection of property rights, and enhancing judicial supervision over compulsory measures such as asset seizures, confiscations and freezes. Photo: Visual China
China is planning to tighten judicial control over the seizure, impoundment and freezing of assets by law enforcement, a move aimed at protecting property rights and curbing abuses of power that have long plagued the private sector.
The initiative is part of a proposal for the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), which recommends “strengthening judicial supervision over coercive measures such as seizure, impoundment, and freezing.”
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- China plans to tighten judicial control over asset seizures to protect property rights and curb law enforcement abuses, as part of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).
- Reforms include independent asset investigations, clearer seizure rules, separation of decision and execution powers, and improved remedy channels for affected parties.
- Arbitrary asset freezes have caused business risks and controversy; recent examples highlight issues with excessive and prolonged property seizures.
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What Happened When
- 2012：
- A human resources and social security bureau in Heilongjiang province seized 15 properties from a real estate developer over unpaid wages.
- 2024：
- Five of the properties seized in 2012 remained frozen, far exceeding the 30-working-day legal limit. The local government’s administrative review body intervened to lift the seizure.
- 2024：
- A supplementary guide to the Five-Year Plan proposal recommends several reforms, including making investigation of seized assets independent in court trials, strengthening external checks and balances, clarifying rules for asset seizures, and establishing better remedy channels.
- 2024：
- Li Fenfei, a professor at Renmin University, suggests separating the power to decide and execute asset seizures and making asset investigation a separate legal proceeding.
- August 2025：
- The Ministry of Justice releases an example regarding the Heilongjiang province property seizure case.
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