World-China Forum

China after Tiananmen

Spring always brings new blossoms, but 20 years ago, spring brought to China an unprecedented flowering. In hundreds of cities, citizens took to the streets in peaceful protests to demand freedom, government accountability and an end to corruption -- and the government, once among the most repressive on Earth, stood by and let them.

It was an intoxicating moment that didn't last. By the morning of June 4, the government had reversed course, sending the army to crush the long-running student demonstration in the capital's Tiananmen Square, leaving hundreds dead, and the Beijing spring was over.

Since that day, China has undergone such a broad transformation that it is almost unrecognizable. The economy has opened up to markets, private property and foreign trade. Living standards have soared. The government that once preached world revolution now provides credit to sustain American consumption. Chinese students go abroad to attend universities in bastions of capitalism.

But the bloody events of 1989 are still a live issue in China. Last month brought forth the posthumous secret memoir of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party chief removed because of his sympathy for the protesters. In it, he denounced the crackdown as "a tragedy to shock the world" and said his country deserved "a state more suitable to a democratic society." (Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribute)

Wang Dan: Tiananmen’s Enduring Challenge

In the past decade, I have watched from afar as China has reasserted its role on the world stage. The economic growth is impressive. Last year’s Beijing Olympic Games gave China the global profile the leadership so clearly wants for legitimacy. But what about media censorship, which contributed to the number of victims of the tainted-milk scandal? And government corruption, which led to shoddy construction practices in Sichuan and devastating consequences during last year’s earthquake? Or the widening gap between the rich and the poor? These issues, all raised by the students in Tiananmen Square 20 years ago, remain unaddressed.

China’s power is limited to the “yang,” or hard power of military and economic might, whereas in the 21st century the “yin,” or soft power based on moral principles and human rights, is equally important. The Chinese people yearn not just for economic benefits but also for basic human rights. A pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08, released online last December, has garnered thousands of signatures despite every effort by the government to block its distribution and punish its authors.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, the Chinese government should take four steps if it wishes to convince the world it is a responsible power. First, it should pay reparations to the Tiananmen mothers who lost their children. Second, the government should allow me and other forcibly exiled Chinese citizens to return to our homeland. Third, the government should release the remaining prisoners who were jailed for peacefully protesting in Tiananmen Square and more recent prisoners persecuted for their efforts to encourage human rights reform. Finally, China’s leaders should address the objectives shared by the Tiananmen students and the authors of Charter 08 — establishing the rule of law, guaranteeing basic human rights and ending corruption. Only then can China begin to turn the tragic page of Tiananmen. (Wang Dan, New York Times)

Sympathy for the Chinese hostess

The Deng Yujiao case sparked anger because it was seen as a case of a lone woman pitted against three rich and powerful men who were demanding sexual favors. One of them repeatedly slapped her on the head with a thick wad of cash.

There were also suspicions that the local government was initially trying to help the officials involved by depicting Ms. Deng, whom the public saw as the victim, as little more than a prostitute.

Right now, it is clear that many people in China do not have faith in the authorities, including the police and the court system. There is no rule of law as understood in the outside world.

Until China develops such a system, a lot of people will continue to identify with individuals who dare to take on the authorities, cheering on those who have the courage to defy those in positions of power.

The widespread public support for Yang Jia did not help him escape capital punishment. It remains to be seen if the support for Deng Yujiao will help her escape a charge of murder. (Frank Ching, China Post)

Learn from landmark court case against the government

On March 25, Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, received an email from his Internet service provider, the Beijing Xin Net. The email was a notice to shut down his personal website because it contained "illegal content", which, according to the notice, were three online posts he wrote on corporate bribery among Chinese officials, reform of the press system and abolishment of the reform-through-labor system. A Xin Net employee told Hu that they shut down his website on orders of the Internet monitoring section of the Suzhou police in East China's Jiangsu province.

For most Chinese blog and website administrators, this would be the end of the story. But Hu, who firmly believes that his website contained nothing illegal, decided to fight back. He gathered a group of legal professionals and sued Xin Net.

Ten days ago, the Daxing district court in Beijing ruled in favor of Hu because Xin Net could not provide proof for its claims of the so-called "illegal" content. Xin Net was also ordered to repay Hu's service fees for the past two years totaling 1,370 yuan. While the amount might be insignificant, Hu's determination and the court's verdict are not.

The case, which was unfortunately reported in very few newspapers, has been hailed as a milestone in the country's history. Its exemplary effect on other courts, other ISP firms and some 300 million Chinese netizens should not be underestimated.

A controversial figure he may be for his critical writings on social, economic and political issues, Hu should be applauded for his courage to take on Xin Net and the Suzhou police, even though his chances of winning the case were bleak. Hu has reminded us that we should not give up although the road seems tough and the pace seems slow. Instead, we should use the law to protect our rights and let the perpetrators face justice.

The case has taught us that silence and inaction in such a situation only makes you guilty of abetting injustice. Resorting to legal action also reflects Hu's faith in the law, which though still fragile, is gradually improving, as evident at the Daxing district court.

For this, the little known court in the suburbs of the capital deserves the nation's respect for the unprecedented ruling. In the past, most courts would use various excuses not to accept such a case simply because the real defendant behind the case is a government department. The judge at Daxing district court, who upheld the law, has rekindled hope into those who had lost faith in the country's legal system.

This case should go down in law books at schools. It proves writing critically about issues does not constitute an "illegal" action, so academics as well as the general public should continue pursuing the truth. The job of an academic, after all, is to examine problems with a critical eye.

Implications of the case are many. Now that Hu and the Daxing district court have set a good example, it is time for other courts and individuals to continue to guard individual rights and uphold the rule of law. (Chen Weihua, China Daily)

Legal process too difficult: Netizens

The difficulty in bringing a lawsuit before the court is one of the main hurdles of people expecting solutions from the judicial system, a press conference was told Tuesday. It was one of 13 major concerns raised by Internet users since April, when the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and 485 lower-level courts asked for suggestions to be e-mailed to their new mail boxes.  Others significant issues included corruption concerns and difficulties in filing an administrative case.

"Many Internet users feel it is difficult to get a case filed, communicate with court staff and have a case well handled, especially in the district and county-level courts," the SPC spokesman Sun Jungong told the conference. "Many people have little knowledge of the procedures of filing and handling a case or which law can best protect his or her rights and interests," Sun told China Daily.

Qiu Baochang, dean of Beijing-based Huijia Law Firm, said court staff, especially those at the district and county-level, would enforce strict standards with filing because they were already overworked. Many people also found legal costs, including lawyer fees, too expensive, Qiu added.

Dong Hongda, a popular blogger on Sina.com, said: "Some court officials are indifferent to the vulnerable litigants without any social and finance background. Some even take bribes." "Though only a small number of judges behave like that, they have led to ugly impression on the overall judges," Dong wrote.

Sun said many people complained about the difficulty in getting a court to accept an administrative case, in which legal action was launched against officials or government agencies. "Some Internet users said some courts would groundlessly refuse to accept, handle or conclude an administrative case," he said.  Wang Cailiang, dean of Beijing-based Cailiang Law Firm, compared citizens engaging an administrative case to an egg striking a rock. "Administrative cases usually involve local government agencies, but the personnel and finance sectors of the court system are subordinate to the management of local government, who sometimes intervene in cases where local government departments are being sued," Wang said.  Sun said the SPC would continue organizing inspection tours nationwide to deal with corruption cases by whistleblowers. More supervisors would also be installed in local trial and enforcement departments. (Xie Chuanjiao, China Daily)

China Is One Extreme, U.S. Is Another

Leslie Hook's "China's Lawyers Face a Crackdown" (op-ed, May 28) on China's legal crackdown fails to mention the U.S. as an example of what happens when lawyers are unfettered. China may go too far one way but the extreme laxness in the U.S. gives China a reason to be careful with freedom. Lawyers here cause a nonproductive 25% increase in the price of health care simply for defensive medicine. The cost of aviation equipment is 10 times higher when liability is attached than when the equipment is not "approved" but has the same capabilities. China doesn't have the asbestos or silicosis fiascos, ambulance chasers, hot coffee at McDonald's cases, etc. The U.S. could stand to become more like China rather than China emulating the U.S. Look to home before you accuse others. (Glenn Mysza, letter to Wall Street Journal)

Rule of Law: Back and Forth From Beijing

In China’s authoritarian system, political power at each level of the bureaucratic hierarchy is centralized in the hands of a small group of Communist Party officials. If they want to choke off information to Beijing and cover up their own corruption or incompetence they have the tools to do so.

Over the last three decades, China’s central leaders have experimented with tentative, bottom-up reforms to address these problems. Their aim was to create channels to allow a limited degree of citizen supervision over local officials and harness popular input to help Beijing better monitor local government agencies. For this reason, the central authorities supported the spread of village elections in the 1990s, allowing rural residents some ability to hold their local leaders accountable. Over the last two decades, Beijing has promoted legal reforms giving citizens limited rights to challenge local authorities in court.

But these efforts can progress only so far before they run into trouble. Beijing may want to keep a closer eye on local authorities, but it does not want to see these channels emerge as truly independent checks on its own power. As a result, China’s leaders end up undermining their own reforms. In the late 1990s, for example, the central leadership clamped down on electoral reforms following activists’ efforts to bring more open elections to higher levels of the bureaucracy.

This dynamic — one step forward, one step back — now appears to be playing itself out in the legal arena. (CARL MINZNER, New York Times)

Doomsday for Chinese Human-Rights Lawyers?

"Without this stamp, I can't practice law," Jiang Tianyong says as he pulls a leathery booklet out of his shirt pocket. He points to a dog-eared page near the back of the book: A red imprint there grants him permission to practice law in China until May 31. The following page, where his renewal stamp should be, is blank. In a few days he'll be disbarred.

Mr. Jiang is one of at least a dozen prominent human-rights lawyers across China on the verge of disbarment, in what appears to be a clampdown on their practice. Chinese lawyers must renew their credentials every year in May at their local judicial bureau or Lawyers Association through a perfunctory process known as the "annual exam," otherwise they cannot practice. There is no actual test involved -- the association or bureau simply summons lawyers to its offices, confirms they have paid their dues and gives them a stamp. "If you read the regulations, it's very clear it should not be a substantive review, as long as you fulfill the requirements, the registration should be automatic," says Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong.

But it doesn't always work this way. (LESLIE HOOK, Wall Street Journal)

Ease social tensions

Several recent crimes have caught nationwide attention and caused tension between grass-root officials and the common people. To address the consequent public indignation and enable harmonious development of social relations, the authorities should strengthen self-discipline and respect the rights of people, says an article in the China Youth News. Excerpt:

When Deng Yujiao, a waitress in an entertainment joint in Badong county, Hubei province, stabbed an official to death when forced to provide "special service", the public showed unanimous sympathy for her, and even called her "a heroine against rapists". Apparently, the official's rude conduct in this case brings to public memory the corrupt and oppressive image of local officials as a whole, and therefore the nationwide outrage caused by the incident.

Similar cases continue to keep strengthening this negative image. With powerful and bullying officials on one side pitted against weak and underprivileged people on the other, tension runs deep. Public anger is swiftly and repeatedly ignited whenever there is a new case of the same kind anywhere else.

This shows deepening fissures in the social structure. Yet the phenomena should be attributed to none other than the local officials themselves.

Instead of representing and protecting people's interests, they have become a great threat to public security and social justice. Many of them abuse their power and deprive the common people of their rights in the name of economic construction.

In order to repair the fissures and develop the basis for a harmonious society, authorities must ensure that the rights of the people at the lowest social and economic levels are protected. (China Daily)

Abuse, most foul

It is a scandal, but more than that, it is an outrage. Teenagers were coerced with threats of violence into having sex with local officials in Xishui county, Southwest China's Guizhou province. Then comes the controversy over what charges the officials should face: the crime of having sex with underage "prostitutes" or that of rape?

While the case against the offenders is yet to proceed further, another scandal has erupted. This involves local village heads and business people in the city of Lishui, Yunnan province, also in the southwest, who allegedly raped 19 high school girls. Immediately after that, the local tax bureau chief in Yibin county of Sichuan province was caught for having paid 6,000 yuan to "buy" sex from a 13-year-old student.

There is enough reason for both online and other media to react strongly when the seven culprits were charged with only the crime of buying sex from girl prostitutes. The argument is that there should be enough reason to charge the officials involved with the crime of rape as the girls were forced to provide sex and because they are not in the business of commercial sex. Moreover, as the exploited girls are under the age of consent, it would be both cruel and perverse to slander them as "prostitutes". (China Daily)