China’s poor enforcement of legal and ethical regulations has repeatedly been highlighted by many studies as a major hurdle both to the responsible application of new bio-technologies in China and to sustaining public confidence in life science research globally. Recently a journalist from the French newspaper, Ouest-France, interviewed Dr Joy Zhang on China’s green governance. Law enforcement was a central issue of their discussion.
Dr Zhang expressed cautious optimism towards Chinese institutions’ recent efforts in promoting regulatory compliance. In the past decade, there has been a visible change of attitudes among Chinese regulators and scientific practitioners towards improving accountability. However, issues such as ambiguous legislative wording and an ignorance of local practicalities have often lead to consequent discretionary implementation of the rules. There remain challenges in China’s pursuit of improving public accountabilities.