China is to reduce the number of executions it carries out each year.

In an interview with a state newspaper the Vice President of China’s Supreme People's Court, Zhang Jun, says the number of annual executions will be reduced to “an extremely small number” and that more death sentences will be commuted.

There are no plans, however, to abolish the death penalty, which is not only imposed for serious crimes but also for crimes against property.

China is generally accepted to have the highest execution rate in the world. The human rights’ organisation Amnesty International said that in 2008, the country executed 1700 people.

Photo of entrance to Supreme People's Court from Wikimedia Commons