Clarify drunken driving

Vice-President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Zhang Jun's recent remarks that not all drunken driving cases should be considered criminal offenses have caused widespread concern that this may lead to confusion in enforcement of the newly amended Criminal Law.

At a national workshop on trials of criminal cases held in Chongqing on Tuesday, Zhang told court representatives across the nation to handle drunken driving cases prudently and to avoid non-discriminatory categorization of cases as criminal offenses.

He said conviction should not be based solely on whether the incident met the criteria for drunken driving and that not all drunken driving should be considered a crime, especially if no "serious consequences" resulted.