As Xi Jinping tightens control over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), further restricts freedom of speech and revives Marxist and Maoist ideology, the judicial system, too, is undergoing a conservative counter-reformation aimed at strengthening the role of the Party and excluding possible reforms inspired by the judicial system of liberal countries. According to China News , on February 25 the Party leadership group of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China released a statement stressing that the country must preserve "the judicial system of socialism with Chinese characteristics " (äøå½ē¹č²ē¤¾ä¼äø»ä¹åøę³å¶åŗ¦). At the same time, it strongly rejected what it described as "Western judicial independence and the separation of powers" (č„æę¹“åøę³ē¬ē«”、“äøęé¼ē«”). The Supreme People's Court said that the judicial system must "resolutely resist the influence of wrong Western thought and wrong Western viewpoints."