“Political reforms didn’t stop under Hu [Jintao] and Wen [Jiabao] – they went backwards. So just like when people started talking about the Hu-Wen ‘new deal’ in 2003, now we start to talk about the Xi-Li ‘new deal’, it’s just wishful thinking.”

[…] Asked what he would say to Mr Obama, if he ever got the chance, Mr Chen said that ignoring China’s record on human rights was undermining America’s standing in the world.

“I would tell Mr Obama there is no small matter in international diplomacy. If an agreement between the US and China can’t be fulfilled, then US credibility as the standard bearer of universal values, freedom and democracy will be jeopardised.”

In op-ed at The Washington Post, Chen and Geng He, wife of vanished rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, urge the White House to push for an end to persecution of activists, lawyers and their families in China:

Our stories are flip sides of the same coin. Geng He sought asylum in the United States after Chinese authorities detained and brutally tortured her husband, the rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Chen Guangcheng, a legal activist, was a prisoner of conscience for many years before escaping house arrest last spring. Now in America, he is studying at New York University and advocating on behalf of his relatives, who continue to endure persecution in China because of his activism.

While our stories are different, the theme is the same: The Chinese government targets rights advocates and their families.

[…] Our stories are just two examples of Chinese authorities acting with impunity and complete disregard for the rule of law. But the attacks on our families are especially worrisome because they show that the government targets not only activists and their families but also the lawyers who have an ethical obligation to defend their clients’ rights against government abuses. Gao once said that you cannot be a rights lawyer in China without becoming a rights case yourself. And when these essential advocates and their families are targeted by the government, the international community must speak out on their behalf.

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Post tags: asylum, Barack Obama, Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng, Hu Jintao, Li Keqiang, reform, rights lawyers, rule of law, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping
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“On Feb. 28, my elder brother went to visit my nephew Chen Kegui in the detention center and, for the first time, Chen Kegui told his dad with great fear that he had been tortured,” Chen Guangcheng said at a human rights forum in Washington.

[...]

He said that China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party’s secretary of the local public security bureau had also threatened Chen Kegui that if he were to try to appeal his case, his prison term would be extended to a “life sentence.”

“They also threaten the lives of his parents and his children. On a daily basis in the detention center he is reminded of those threats,” Chen said.

At a recent talk at Yale University, Chen spoke about legal reform in China with regards to his nephew’s case. From the Yale Daily News:

At a panel sponsored by the China Law Center, Chen and two other panelists — New York University Law School professor Jerome A. Cohen ’51 LAW ’55, who is a co-director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, and New York University Law School professor Ira Belkin, the executive director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute — discussed different aspects of the criminal justice system in China as well as structural and systematic difficulties within it. Chen said the greatest threat to the well-being of China’s legal system is that the Communist Party of China is above the law.

“The laws are always guided by party policies,” Chen said. “That’s the fundamental reality of how the law system actually works in China today and the biggest barrier to the law system from improving.”

[...]

After the village Party Committee discovered his escape from house arrest, he said, the party vice secretary took “gangsters” to his brother’s home and started beating him, his wife and son with clubs, smashing all possessions and robbing all valuables. Chen’s brother was detained on no legal basis, while the thugs continued beating his sister-in-law and his nephew, Chen added. His nephew, beaten half to death, grabbed a knife and attempted to resist the gangsters without seriously wounding anyone — a few days later, though, his nephew was accused of malicious injury, he said. Chen’s nephew was later sentenced to three years and three months in prison without proper legal procedure, while those who attacked him faced no charges.

“The party can get away with crimes of breaking and entering, robbery and beating people up, while the person who resists all of this becomes the criminal,” Chen said.

In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Chen expressed skepticism over the likelihood of the Chinese government implementing rule of law and constitutionalism under the leadership of Xi Jinping:

Do you believe that the new Chinese leadership is embarking on a genuine “rule of law” campaign in the wake of the recent Bo Xilai and princeling corruption scandals?

I think the idea that Xi Jinping will change as a result of the Bo Xilai affair is completely unfounded. The most important thing is to look at his actions. We have all heard enough nice talk, and the key now is to look at what he does. If there are specific actions taken, then we can believe the talk.

Under the current system, the Communist Party sits brazenly above the constitution and the law and makes no effort to reform.

What specifically would have to happen to indicate to you that this effort of the new leadership is genuine and a sign of progress?

For example, they could eliminate policies that restrict the formation of other political parties and press freedoms, and truly protect freedom of speech. They could separate the power of the party from the government, which now affects all levels of government, from the central authorities to the local authorities. Make the judiciary independent. Let the party manage its affairs, and let the government carry out its duties according to the law. If they can do this, we will believe them.

So, up to now they haven’t introduced any new measures that might mark a path towards change?

No. If they put out a timeline, I would believe that. Unfortunately, at the moment, under the current system, the Communist Party sits brazenly above the constitution and the law and makes no effort to reform. How, in this scenario, are we to believe they will respect the constitution?

Read more about Chen Guangcheng and Chen Kegui via CDT.

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Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, chen kegui, constitution, legal reform, rule of law
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These and other recent legal developments – including a pair of domestic violence cases with wildly different outcomes – illustrate how unprecedented social changes in China are provoking new questions about the role of law in society, and creating problems for law-makers, citizens and courts alike.

[...] Litigation sometimes reflects pressures to meet social change, as shown by two recent cases involving violence against women that challenges a long-standing acceptance of domestic abuse. In one case, Kim Lee, the American wife of a well-known Chinese English teacher, was granted a divorce by a Chinese court on the grounds of domestic violence. The court also issued a three-month restraining order against the husband that was described in Chinese media as “unprecedented.” Ms. Lee brought the case to court despite police attempts to discourage her. As one commentary published on the website of The Atlantic noted, “[F]or many in China, especially in rural areas, physical violence in the home is an accepted part of a marital relationship.” Ms. Lee posted photos of her injuries on the Internet and succeeded in her divorce suit. The case provoked a nation-wide debate about domestic violence. By the time it was decided, it had generated more than three million comments on Sina Weibo.

Another example of social problems intersecting with law is the even more serious case of Li Yan, a woman in southwestern China’s Sichuan province who killed her husband after suffering years of abuse and violence. Despite a large amount of evidence documenting her ordeals, the court ruled that she had not adequately proven domestic violence and sentenced her to death. The case has gone to the Supreme People’s Court, which has not yet ruled on whether her execution should be carried out.

All of the cases discussed here are examples of shifts in social values that demonstrate the complex interactions between law and social change. The Shenzhen law suggests limits on the influence of legal rules on citizens’ behavior. The new legal provisions imposing a duty, however vague, on adult children to care for their elderly parents illustrate a legislative intent to influence intergenerational attitudes whose traditional content have been eroded by economic change. And the issue of domestic violence reflects social pressures for new laws to protect wives from violent husbands, while also raising doubt about the extent to which such laws would actually protect them.

Lubman concludes that these new efforts to legislate behavior demonstrate that “Chinese society is racing headlong into a new era and grasping for new rules as it goes.”

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Post tags: legal reform, legislation, rule of law, social reform
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The capital will take 180,000 old vehicles off the road and promote clean energy autos among government departments, the public and the urban cleaning sector, which includes street cleaners and trash collectors, Wang Anshun said at the opening of a session of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, the municipal legislature.

The heating systems of 44,000 old, single-story homes and coal-burning boilers downtown are to be replaced with clean energy, Wang said as he delivered a government work report.

The city will also speed up the promotion of clean energy in rural areas and strictly control dust in construction projects, said Wang.

He vowed to strengthen air quality monitoring and analysis, as well as the release of such information.

The promise of increased transparency, itself coming on the heels of a wave of unusually frank coverage in state media, was accompanied by a call for public comment on the new regulations. From Dexter Roberts at Bloomberg Businessweek:

In another sign that Beijing officials are, for now, leaning toward openness, officials will allow the city’s 20 million residents to weigh in on draft regulations aimed at curbing the Chinese capital’s horrendous air pollution, according to a notice posted Jan. 20 on the Beijing municipal government website. The public can comment on the proposed new measures until Feb. 8, the day before China shuts down for the annual Chinese New Year festival, said the statement issued by the city’s legal affairs office.

“This is important. Now public scrutiny should play a key role in promoting pollution control and enforcement of this rule,” says Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. Ma’s environmental advocacy group plans to comment through the online platform that the municipal government has created for this purpose.

Edward Wong argued at The New York Times on Sunday that Beijing’s “extraordinary surge” in air pollution was one of several drivers of growing demands for political input. But Reuters reported a generally unfavorable response to the plans on Sina Weibo:

“These plans are just dreams,” wrote one user.

Others said the phasing out of old cars would make little difference in a city where about 250,000 new cars hit the road every year, albeit with supposedly higher emissions standards.

“These ‘old cars’ are what the ordinary people drive. You people can only dare talk about this subject when you start phasing out all the cars officials drive,” wrote another user.

Other doubts remain about the likely effectiveness of public consultation, enforcement, and of rules targeted only at the city itself. From Yin Yeping at Global Times:

Zhang Yuanxun, a professor of resources and environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that a lack of law enforcement will be a problem.

“The punishments enshrined in the regulations are too strict and broad. It will require many more law enforcement officers to ensure its effective implementation,” he said.

“The old laws were not enforced, not to mention this new one,” he said.

[…] “Also, just restricting the local atmospheric pollution would have little contribution to its improvement if there are no changes in the pollution conditions in the surrounding areas [of Beijing],” [Zhou Rong, climate and energy director of Greenpeace] said.

Wang Yan, a resident working in international trade, said she thinks the new laws should have been launched already.

“I don’t think I’ll offer comments on the new regulation since I doubt if my voice will be heard,” she said, adding targeting street barbecues is ridiculous.

At chinadialogue, Gavin Lohry suggested an additional measure that might help address a range of environmental concerns, from air quality and energy consumption to drainage:

Green roofs – roofs covered with plant vegetation – first gained popularity in Germany and have since been spreading around the world. They help cities reduce storm water runoff, cool the urban environment, absorb air pollution, insulate buildings and increase biodiversity. With enough green roof adoption, Beijing could realise positive impacts on the environment and improved quality of life.

My research on the topic found that in Beijing there is around 93 million square metres of roof space suitable for cost effective green roof adoption. If the cheapest and most basic forms of green roofs covered the suitable roof space, the urban environment would be substantially improved.

Under this scenario air particle pollution could be reduced by as much as 880,000 kilograms every year, equivalent to taking 730,000 cars off the road. The roofs could reduce storm water by 3.5 million cubic metres during large rain events, equivalent to filling the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square with two metres of water or 1,400 Olympic swimming pools.

Any boost to Beijing’s drainage infrastructure would be valuable in the event of more storms like last summer’s, which killed 77 people. But there are no easy solutions: the problems are tangled, often beyond the scope of local government policies, or out of human control entirely. From Jonathan Kaiman at The Guardian:

Deborah Seligsohn, an expert on China’s environment at the University of California, San Diego, said that there is no silver bullet for the country’s air pollution. The underlying causes are dynamic and diverse: power plants, small factories, automobile emissions, rampant construction, farmers burning coal for heat. “One of the things about the air quality in Beijing is that it varies a lot more than it used to,” she said.

Beijing’s air quality fluctuates with the weather – a strong wind from the north can blow the smog to sea, she said, while south-eastern winds trap the air against a nearby mountain range, drowning the city in a pea-soup haze.

[…] Beijing has taken significant steps to combat pollution – it invested an estimated $10bn before the 2008 Olympics to raise emissions standards, replace residents’ coal stoves with natural gas heaters, and relocate a ring of steel plants on the city’s outskirts. Yet Beijing still shares its airspace with six surrounding provinces which may not adhere to comparable environmental standards.

“One of the fundamental problems is that the environmental regulators don’t have sufficient authority and resources to overcome the forces that are creating the pollution,” said Alex Wang, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert on China’s environmental law.

The problem is indeed hardly limited to Beijing, as Peking University professor Pan Xiaochuan angrily pointed out while blasting the term “Beijing Cough” as an “extreme insult” to the city. Other cities have been even more severely affected, and Shanghai has not escaped. From Reuters:

Shanghai, too, is improving public communication of air pollution data, as Angel Hsu describes on her blog:

[… B]y far my favorite innovation Shanghai’s EPB has made so far is in the use of this little air quality mascot to communicate what the various levels of pollution on the normalized AQI index mean. For the most part, things take a sour turn for AQI girl (let’s just call her that, I’m not sure if she has an official name) after the Good (51-100) part of the range. I like how they coordinated her hair color with the official color codes of different pollutant thresholds – it’s a great way for people to automatically remember and understand what the different colors mean. AQI girl also provides a much more people and user-friendly means to calculate air quality, as opposed to other cartoon characters or anime figures that they could gone with.

[…] I can only imagine next will come a video game for AQI girl, that will feature her navigating Shanghai’s polluted streets, having to dodge roadside exhaust coming from tailpipes, all the while remembering to wear her face mask when she sees AQI readings above 150.

The Wall Street Journal’s Brian Spegele and Wayne Ma described the obstacles to implementing deeper and broader solutions. Proposed changes inevitably raise questions of who will pay for them.

Over the long term, drawing down emissions will require costly upgrades to industrial facilities and oil refineries, measures resisted by state-owned companies unable to pass costs on to consumers and local governments that depend on industrial output for revenue.

[…] Though attention over the years has focused on power plants and passenger-car emissions, China’s pollution problems are complex and spread broadly across the economy. Mr. Zhao, of Nanjing University, and a research team studied the effectiveness of Chinese government policies in curbing emissions between 2005 and 2010 and estimated PM2.5 from coal-fired power generation fell roughly 21% as cleaner technologies took hold. Meanwhile, PM2.5 emissions from iron and steel production rose roughly 39% to 2.2 million metric tons, according to the estimates, as output increased.

China is particularly struggling to curb what are known as secondary pollutants, formed when primary pollutants—such as emitted sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, from coal burning and other sources—undergo reactions in the atmosphere. The government has had some success targeting primary pollutants, but analysts say it is just beginning to target secondary pollutant problems, including particulate matter that is harmful to human health.

Spegele also discussed a range of air pollution issues with the Journal’s Deborah Kan:

Officials have been careful to manage expectations, stressing that real change will take years, just as the current situation was years in the making. South China Morning Post’s Li Jing spoke to Qu Geping, whose career in shaping China’s environmental policy included a stint as the country’s first environmental protection administrator from 1987 to 1993. Qu lamented that the present of emergency was foreseen thirty years ago, when China nearly chose a different development path to avoid it. He blames the lost opportunity on government according to “the rule of men”, rather than rule of law.

“I would not call the past 40 years’ efforts of environmental protection a total failure,” he said. “But I have to admit that governments have done far from enough to rein in the wild pursuit of economic growth … and failed to avoid some of the worst pollution scenarios we, as policymakers, had predicted.”

[…] But, Qu said, if the central government had respected a policy that it released in 1983, China could be in a much better place now.

“The State Council published a document that year, stipulating that economic and urban construction should synchronise with environmental protection, so that the three legs of social development could reach a co-ordinated benefit,” he said. “It was a pragmatic and feasible strategy, even more approachable than the notion of ‘sustainable development’ enshrined by the United Nations years later.”

[…] “Why was the strategy never properly implemented?” he said. “I think it is because there was no supervision of governments. It is because the power is still above the law.”

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Post tags: 2008 Olympics, air pollution, air quality, Beijing, Beijing environment, beijing flood 2012, Chinese Academy of Science, clean air, clean energy, factories, forbidden city, greenpeace, industrial pollution, law enforcement, Ma Jun, PM2.5, power plants, rule of law, Shanghai, state-owned enterprises, steel, Tiananmen Square, Wang Anshun
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“I would hardly be here to buy Li’s book if not for what happened to him on Sunday,” one young man said. “I just came here to show my support for Li, a liberal-minded critic.”

[…] Meanwhile, dozens of protesters, most in their 40s or 50s and some wearing Mao Zedong badges, gathered outside the building.

One of the protesters said he was outraged by some of Li’s recent comments, such as labelling those who took to the streets in anti-Japanese demonstrations in Shenzhen “brain damaged”.

“Li is a typical traitor who does nothing more than distort history and mislead the public, particularly the young,” he said.

Also at the South China Morning Post, Laura Zhou had previously described Sunday’s altercation, over which Li is reportedly considering legal action.

Li Chengpeng, a former journalist, was punched in the head during an afternoon signing of his new book for readers at the Zhongguancun Bookstore in Haidian district, and another man was filmed throwing a packaged kitchen knife at Li.

The man who punched Li claimed to have a strong aversion to the content of Li’s new book, The Whole World Knows. The assailant was taken away by Beijing police, according to a post on the public security bureau’s microblog that night.

The new book is a collection of essays that include sensitive topics such as the shoddy quality of school buildings that collapsed and killed thousands of students during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the alleged cover-up of the 2011 Wenzhou train crash.

The knife incident, in which a man waited in line to present Li with the threatening “gift”, and then threw it at him when it was apparently rejected, was caught on video (via SCMP’s John Kennedy):

Click here to view the embedded video.

In contrast with the action in Beijing and Shenzhen, Li’s signing in Chengdu on Saturday was markedly subdued. Li had been ordered not to address the audience and wore a mask over his mouth in protest. Global Voices Online translated a weibo post Li sent before the event, together with a selection of other users’ reactions:

Someone just delivered a strict order: at my book signing event, I’m not allowed to talk; the readers are not allowed to ask me any questions; I can’t even introduce myself or say “ Happy New Year, Thank you”. I’m not even allowed to introduce the names of other guests at my event; they are not allowed to talk or answer any questions. They can only sit in the corner. I deeply feel it’s against my understanding of dignity. They are crazy.

王金明小伙[zh]: It’s the most depressing signing event I’ve ever experienced. There were many people on the spot but no sound. The policemen were guarding each corner. Li wore a mask and signed his book with the wrong date. His guests only appeared very shortly before being asked to step down. There were tears on Li’s face.

I suddenly discovered that the Communist Party has made creating a buzz into an art. Li Chengpeng’s book signing was just a small ordinary event, but after the Communist Party’s handling of it, it became a work of performance art that has spread throughout the world.

Bruce Humes and Sascha Matuszak blogged their accounts of the Shenzhen and Chengdu signings, respectively.

Scuffles between leftists and liberals also broke out outside the offices of the Southern Weekly newspaper, during protests over censorship of its New Year greeting. Li was particularly outspoken about the Southern Weekly affair. From an interview at Japan’s Asahi Shimbun:

To me, this feels as if the insult toward freedom of speech has been lifted up a level. I cannot stand it, and I believe many other people feel the same.

China’s Constitution recognizes freedom of speech. The new party leadership advocates the rule of law. It should therefore sponsor freedom of speech–but doesn’t. The reality is different.

[…] I’ve felt pressure. I’ve been braced to see my blog shut down. Yet, we are not challenging the government. We just want China to become a better country.

The fact that many people have raised their voice this time has great significance. This is the first step on a long road toward achieving freedom of speech.

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Post tags: 2008 Sichuan earthquake, anti-Japan demonstrations 2012, Beijing, books, Chengdu, freedom of speech, leftists, Li Chengpeng, Mao Zedong, rule of law, Shenzhen, Southern Weekly, southern weekly protest 2013, train crash, wenzhou, writers
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[…] There is no doubt that daunting challenges await Xi. But those who suggest that the CCP will not be able to deal with them fundamentally misread China’s politics and the resilience of its governing institutions. Beijing will be able to meet the country’s ills with dynamism and resilience, thanks to the CCP’s adaptability, system of meritocracy, and legitimacy with the Chinese people. In the next decade, China will continue to rise, not fade. The country’s leaders will consolidate the one party model and, in the process, challenge the West’s conventional wisdom about political development and the inevitable march toward electoral democracy. In the capital of the Middle Kingdom, the world might witness the birth of a post-democratic future.

[…] Many developing countries have already come to learn that democracy doesn’t solve all their problems. For them, China’s example is important. Its recent success and the failures of the West offer a stark contrast. To be sure, China’s political model will never supplant electoral democracy because, unlike the latter, it does not pretend to be universal. It cannot be exported. But its success does show that many systems of political governance can work when they are congruent with a country’s culture and history. The significance of China’s success, then, is not that China provides the world with an alternative but that it demonstrates that successful alternatives exist. Twenty-four years ago, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama predicted that all countries would eventually adopt liberal democracy and lamented that the world would become a boring place because of that. Relief is on the way. A more interesting age may be upon us.

Also at Foreign Policy, Yasheng Huang responds. The Party, he argues, has not so much adapted as muddled through, while Yunnan’s innovative Party vice-secretary Qiu He is no more representative of Chinese meritocracy than the corrupt torturer Bo Xilai. He praises as “sensible” Li’s suggestions for the near future but, citing the example of Taiwan, frames them as steps onto a benignly slippery slope towards democracy.

In 2011, standing in front of the Royal Society (the British academy of sciences), Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared, “Tomorrow’s China will be a country that fully achieves democracy, the rule of law, fairness, and justice. Without freedom, there is no real democracy. Without guarantee of economic and political rights, there is no real freedom.” Eric Li’s article in these pages, “The Life of the Party,” pays no such lip service to democracy. Instead, Li, a Shanghai-based venture capitalist, declares that the debate over Chinese democratization is dead: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will not only stay in power; its success in the coming years will “consolidate the one-party model and, in the process, challenge the West’s conventional wisdom about political development.” Li might have called the race too soon.

[…] There are calls for more democracy in China. It is true that the party’s antireform bloc has had the upper hand since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. But recently, voices for reform within the CCP have been gaining strength, aided in large part by calls for honesty, transparency, and accountability from hundreds of millions of Internet-using Chinese citizens. China’s new leaders seem at least somewhat willing to adopt a more moderate tone than their predecessors, who issued strident warnings against “westernization” of the Chinese political system. So far, what has held China back from democracy is not a lack of demand for it but a lack of supply. It is possible that the gap will start to close over the next ten years.

See more on political reform, democracy and meritocracy, via CDT.

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Post tags: CCP, democracy, eric x. li, legitimacy, meritocracy, political reform, rule of law, Wen Jiabao, Yasheng Huang
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The rules had been heralded by a series of editorials in state media, including one from People’s Daily Online which framed the issue of internet regulation in terms of rule of law. From David Bandurski’s translation at China Media Project:

The internet is public space, and public order and good customs require the common efforts of web users, demanding that each web users “purify themselves” (自我净化), recognizing from the bottom of their hearts that the internet is not a utopia where they can do as they please, that it is not a “Garden of Peaches of Immortality” [i.e., a paradise] existing outside the law. But on this massive platform comprising 538 million web users and more than a billion mobile users, it is impossible byrelying on self-discipline alone to achieve regulation and order (规范有序) and to eliminate every single person with ulterior motives (别有用心者) or every doer of mischief (恶作剧者).

Without wings, the bird of freedom cannot fly high. Without rule of law, a free internet cannot go far. Today’s society reveres rule of law, and just as our actual society needs rule of law, so does our virtual society need rule of law. Cleaning up the online world demands the self-discipline of web users, but even more it demands the interventionist discipline (他律) of rule of law. Only by putting the “binds” of rule of law on the internet, by stipulating the lines of conduct and adding supervision according to the law (厘定行为边界，依法加以监管), only by making violators of the law bear the burden of illegality [as opposed to victims of crimes], only then can we possibly restrain irresponsible rumors, restrain the leakage of personal information, and make the internet clean again.

Following the Standing Committee’s decision, state media have emphasised provisions to protect privacy, and denied that the rules are aimed at suppressing netizens’ celebrated exposure of official wrongdoing. From Gui Tao and Huang Xin at Xinhua:

Online muckraking is not necessarily incompatible with a requirement to provide genuine identification. Many whistleblowers prefer to use their real names, as they feel this will give their claims more weight.

Other reports state that the identity policy will clamp down on the freedom of speech in Chinese cyberspace. But the accusers should know that freedom without limits or responsibility is chaotic and dangerous. No one should enjoy the freedom to spread malicious rumors or libel, even online. The rule should only be feared by slanderers who wish to take advantage of online anonymity.

For law-abiding netizens, the rules passed on Friday will only better safeguard their lawful rights and privacy. The rules, which stress the protection of Internet users’ privacy, stipulate that citizens have the rights to demand service providers to delete online information that discloses their identities or infringes upon their own rights.

[…] Instead of depriving netizens’ freedom and entitlement, the rules protect the legal rights of every Internet user. The rules will ultimately help to create a better online environment in China.

Global Times aimed for a similarly reassuring tone:

Overall, the Chinese Internet is free and responsible, but also has moments of chaos and illegal activity. Infringements upon people’s rights and privacy can easily be found on the Internet. The new legislation, in this regard, is likely to become a turning point in terms of online regulation. Most of its 12 articles respond to the high expectations of the public for changes to the Chinese Internet.

Of course, there are concerns. Despite its chaotic nature, the Internet has been playing a role as a supervisor of the government from the bottom up. As a truly effective and tough supervision mechanism has yet to be formed within the system, supervision from the Internet is important to make up for it. This is a huge contribution the Internet has made to China’s construction of democracy, and no one wants to see it weakened.

In reality, there is no crackdown on the public’s supervision via the Internet, because this wouldn’t help China’s progress.

But meanwhile, we cannot simply cover up all the problems of the Internet just because it dares to criticize. There is urgent need for the Internet to have order, and this cannot be achieved through moral self-discipline only, but requires assistance from the law.

Xinhua’s Gui and Huang also played down the significance of the new real-name rules, arguing that many such requirements already exist. But according to The New York Times’ Keith Bradsher, they are now likely to become both more widespread and more strictly enforced.

Any entity providing Internet access, including over fixed-line or mobile phones, “should when signing agreements with users or confirming provision of services, demand that users provide true information about their identities,” the committee ordered.

[…] The regulations issued Friday build on a series of similar administrative guidelines and municipal rules issued over the past year. China’s mostly private Internet service providers have been slow to comply with them, fearing the reactions of their customers. The committee’s decision has much greater legal force, and puts far more pressure on Chinese Internet providers to comply more quickly and more comprehensively, Internet specialists said.

[…] The requirement for real names appeared to be aimed particularly at cellphone companies and other providers of mobile Internet access. At the news conference, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhao Zhiguo, said that nearly all fixed-line services now had real-name registration, but that only about 70 percent of mobile phones were registered under real names.

Whether or not the new rules stem the flow of online exposés, argued NPR’s Frank Langfitt, “it’s also clear that muckrakers can only aim so high.”

LANGFITT: […] Luo Changping is deputy editor of Caijing, one of China’s more aggressive and independent magazines. Earlier this month, he posted on his Chinese Twitter account allegations about a high-ranking official in Beijing. Luo said the official had fabricated his masters’ degree and helped defraud Chinese banks. So far, Luo says, the charges have gone nowhere. […] Many domestic media are not allowed to report on this case, he said, and frankly, Luo was hesitant to discuss it.

CHANGPING: (Through translator) My phones certainly have been monitored, including my office phone, home phone and cell phone. I can feel that. Sometimes phones will be cut off, and you can hear echoes.

LANGFITT: Luo says without the rule of law and a truly open press, piecemeal exposes can only do so much. He’s not optimistic. […] If there are no systematic changes, he says, I think fighting corruption on a case-by-case basis doesn’t have much effect. It’s really just a power struggle between officials.

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Post tags: Internet activism, Internet regulation, National People's Congress, people's daily, privacy, real name, real name registration, rule of law, state media, Xinhua
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CCTV reported on the People’s Daily article “The Internet is Not Outside the Law” on its prime-time news show.

When CCTV aired V for Vendetta, uncut, last Friday, netizens thought it was a sign that reform is truly on its way. They were a bit crushed, then, to read a signed article in Tuesday’s People’s Daily entitled “The Internet is Not Outside the Law.” The official media should at least hold itself to the same standards as netizens are now being asked to, savvy commenters complain. Some worry the article marks an official response to a series of “Internet anti-corruption” efforts in which human flesh searches and vocal complaint about abuses of power have forced the government’s hand. Everything from luxury watch collections to bedroom antics have been exposed online, costing a number of officials their jobs. Will the censors now crack down on Internet justice?

From Weibo:

author-blessing: The Internet is not outside the law? In that case, please respect the constitution; do not delete comments as you please, do not detain people as you please, and do not wield labor re-education as you please.

作家-天佑:网络不是法外之地？那请你们尊重宪法，不要随便删帖，不要随便抓人，不要随便劳教。

JinningMantouMonster: On the one hand, you people take in an astronomical amount of advertising money, and on the other, you enjoy lucrative government funding. On top of all that, you retain exclusive privileges to the Spring Festival Gala and special rights to broadcast your news show over every local satellite channel every day from 7-7:30 p.m. You’re half government and half business, and yet you have the audacity to talk to me about the rule of law? Piss off!

馒头妖在金宁：你们，一边收着天价的广告费，一边享受着财政拨款，还占着除夕晚会的特权、每天19:00-19:30强制地方卫视性转播你家新闻的特权，半官半商，居然还有脸给我说法制？死滚！

ZhaoChu: CCTV’s News Simulcast publicized a People’s Daily article about how “the Internet is not outside of the law.” Not bad. According to the universal, modern principles of the rule of law, nothing should fall outside the boundaries of the law. However, I wish to inform CCTV and People’s Daily of the following: every office of every level of the Party and the government, all heavily guarded secret government locations, and even the two of you, which are government-funded and operated, should even more so not exist outside the boundaries of the law.

赵 楚 : CCTV新闻联播高调转发《人民日报》文章，说什么“网络不是法外之地”，不错，按照普世的现代法治原则，没有任何地方应该成为法外之地，但是，我想在这 里告诉央视和《人民日报》：各级党政的办公楼以及各种戒备森严的官家秘密场所，连同你们两家以公帑运营的媒体，更不应该成为法外之地。

HeBin: So CCTV is the only one outside of the law?

何兵: 央视才是法外之地？

Evan_Chen: Government officials should not do their work outside of the law, yet your corruption is impossible to ignore. News Simulcast should not speak outside the law, yet you continue to spew nothing but lies. No offense, but my level of acceptance for this government and this TV station is zero.

Evan_Chen的微博：国家公务人员也不是法外职务，但你照贪不误；新闻联播不是法外之言，但你依旧谎话连篇。不客气的说，我对这个政府和这个电视台的认可度是零。

PoliteYoungMaster: Totally, man! It’s only the government that is outside the effing boundaries of the law!

和气大少爷：那是，那是！官场才是尼玛法外之地！

chuyoo: What the crap… I’m a law-abiding citizen! But are you sure you’re in accordance with the law?

chuyoo：卧槽，我可是遵纪守法滴。。你们有没有按照法律来呢？

NanQianZhu: In today’s China, justice is found mostly online. Democracy is found mostly online. Law-abiding citizens, for the most part, I’m afraid, are found mostly online. The Internet is virtually the only channel through which Chinese can freely access information. The Internet and the country’s citizens aren’t outside the law–that’s the domain of the government and corporations.

南千住：现在的中国，最多的正义在网上，最多的民主在网上，最守法的公民怕也多在网上。网络几乎是唯一可以自由得到信息的途径。法外之地不在网络不在民众，在官在商。

HeartwoodLife: For the most part, signed People’s Daily articles don’t actually represent the work or views of an individual. Even though an author’s name is given, it name obviously represents the combined views of a given organization. For example, take Zhong Xuanli. That’s obviously the Central Propaganda Ministry’s Indoctrination Bureau. And Zhong Zuwen is the Central Organization Department. Actually, precedent for this kind of tactic dates back to ancient times.

心木生活：人民日报的署名文章一般都不是代表个人，尽管都有署名，其实这个署名一看就知道是某个机构的谐音。比如仲轩理，就是中共中央宣传部理论局，仲祖文就是中共中央组织部。其实这种传统古而有之。

China Media Project all points out that the name of the article’s author, Mo Jinjin, is likely a fictional commentator representing an entire government department.

WenZhige: These fucking mouthpieces… First they say the law is not a shield, and then they say the Internet is not outside the law. What kind of ass-backwards logic is this?

文止戈：这些狗日的喉舌，一会儿说法律不是挡箭牌，一会儿说网络不是法外之地，这是什么狗屁逻辑？

Accener: Those watch brothers and house uncles must be scared now.

Accener：表哥房叔们害怕了

LiZhiyongLawyer: Can’t take it anymore?

李志勇律师：受不了了？

ToriWine: Of course they’ve come out with an article like this. All those watch brothers are really taking a hit from Weibo.

东篱把酒V：这是必然的，微博已经严重影响各种表哥的发展。

LeisurelyFuton: In that case, I want to say something too: the Communist Party should not retain the special right to override the constitution.

悠闲居士的蒲团：那我也想说一句。共产党不是凌驾宪法的特权政党。

Read more untranslated comments at CDT Chinese.

Translation by Little Bluegill.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCTV, censorship, freedom of speech, Internet freedom, Internet stars, Netizen Voices, people's daily, propaganda, propaganda department, rule of law
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The introduction of a sunshine law enjoys wide public approval, and would be a major step forward in the fight against corruption. The government must put it on the legislative agenda of the next National People’s Congress.

Corruption is an outcome of the unholy mix of power and money. The proper exercise of power is the key to curbing corruption. In a society governed by the rule of law, a gain in political power does not – and should not – come with a gain in wealth. But that is not how it is in China; power and money have become inextricably linked in its bureaucratic culture.

The challenge is daunting. But China can start with the basics. First, it must eradicate the conditions that breed corruption. This means improving its market and legal systems through comprehensive reform, to facilitate the transformation into a modern nation. This means abiding by the rule of law, and instituting a system that effectively targets corruption. This includes the features of a sunshine law, robust public and media scrutiny and an independent judiciary.

[…] China today is grappling with complex issues, but the problem at heart is quite simple. The fight against corruption depends on the rule of law. Without it, it’s all empty talk.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 18th party congress, 5th generation, corruption, National People's Congress, reform, rule of law, Xi Jinping
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We’ve learned a hard lesson in Chongqing at the cost of both lives and blood.

[…] If I was to describe how they acted in Chongqing over these past few years, I’d say they were like a crazy mouse on a rollercoaster going to a slippery slide. The newly-appointed leaders of the city’s public security apparatus are strongly opposed to the way that former party chief Bo Xilai and former head of the Public Security Bureau Wang Lijun handled matters in the past.

Now many just causes are gradually being rehabilitated.

But how many people were actually detained during the crackdown? How many were prosecuted? How many were sentenced to death or re-education through labor … we need to be clear on these numbers. We have a duty to history and to the people.

[…] If we don’t reveal what really went on, if we don’t expose their crimes and terrible deeds, many ordinary people will remain in the dark and we will be on the wrong side of history.

Also at Economic Observer, Li’s own lawyer Chen Youxi outlines how Bo’s ‘Chongqing Model’ almost succeeded, the damage it did, and the lessons that should be learned.

After two years of observation and deep thought, I believe that the underlying social foundations that led to the tragedy that occurred in Chongqing, continue to exist and flourish in China today. If we don’t seriously reflect on what happened in Chongqing, the soil which cultivated the tragedy in Chongqing will continue to exist, and if it doesn’t happen in Chongqing again, it just might take place somewhere else.

[…] If Wang Lijun hadn’t defected to the U.S. embassy and set off a series of other problems, it’s likely the Chongqing Model would have been copied across the country. If that happened, what would China’s rule of law be like? The more we think about it, the more we still feel have fears even after the events in Chongqing.

[…] In fact, the Chongqing’s problems are national problems that were concentrated and exposed in one municipality. It showed us the serious consequences of not continuing to deepen reform and also the great possibility and danger of the extreme-left making a comeback.

Reflecting on Chongqing is meaningful for the whole nation.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: abuse of power, Bo Xilai, Chongqing, Chongqing Model, corruption, lawyers, Li Zhuang, murders, organised crime, rule of law, strike black, torture, Wang Lijun
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As China’s new generation of leaders surveys the work ahead of them, one of the most difficult questions they face is how to narrow the wide chasm between rhetoric and reality when it comes to rule of law. Few people have pushed for the narrowing of that gap as persuasively or courageously as He Weifang, an outspoken and well-known legal scholar at the Beijing University Law School who has been urging legal reform for almost 15 years through journals, the media and public lectures. Now, for the first time, English speakers have the pleasure of being able to access He’s work in a single, carefully translated volume.

[…] In the face of the current authoritarianism of the CCP’s rule, He may seem to be an optimistic visionary. But both in his writing and in person, he is temperate while asserting powerful ideas and deeply insightful views about the cultural and political barriers to meaningful legal reform. As He pursues his personal crusade with determination, he exudes a remarkable cheerfulness and presents an inspiration to his students and the public at large. His book provides a persuasive and clearly written guide for foreigners who are willing to try to understand China through the lens of Chinese law.

He discussed the book in a 90-minute video available at C-SPAN, also featuring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. See also a short biography of He Weifang at The China Story.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: constitution, free speech, He Weifang, Jon Huntsman, judicial system, legal reform, legal system, rule of law
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As you think about the overall situation for the rule of law, and development of civil society and individual liberties in China, would you say that things are on the whole getting better? Or getting worse?

[…] I think China has taken the first step, which is to make sure that there are rules and regulations and laws that govern the society. China is not doing a great job of the second step, which is to make sure that those rules are implemented and complied with in practice. Law enforcement generally speaking cannot function in today’s Chinese society. That is what has given rise to all these numerous cases in which the government ignores the rules that they themselves have set up. For instance, the case of my nephew [Chen Kegui, arrested after Chen's departure], and my own case. These are all examples of the government’s blatant ignorance of the law. The government acts contrary to the law, tortures people, ‘disappears’ them, does all sorts of things to the innocent people without any legal basis,

What do you think outside individuals or organizations who support China’s evolution to a rule-of-law society can most usefully do?

[…] I want to deliver this message to people in any democracy in the world. I want to let them know that every effort they have made in this respect will make a huge difference in China. I urge them to have faith in their ability to make changes in China. Be confident and speak out. The sky won’t fall just because people speak up on their own opinion.

Chen reiterated his view that Western companies should take on more social responsibility in China, singling Google out for praise: “It really has played a model role in this respect …. So far I believe that Google has earned the confidence of the Chinese people.”

Chen finally met with his admirer Christian Bale this week at an awards dinner hosted by Human Rights First. The Batman star mounted an unsuccessful attempt to visit Chen last December in the village of Dongshigu where he and his family were being illegally held. One of the guards who aggressively blocked Bale’s visit went on to attain some measure of Internet stardom as a new Batman nemesis and generally Photoshopped omnipresence.

Fallows also wrote a short passage on Chen for The Atlantic’s Brave Thinkers 2012 feature:

Chen, who has been blind since early childhood and taught himself law, showed physical courage comparable to the Tank Man’s in climbing over walls and feeling his way along roadsides for miles, to escape the house in which local authorities had detained and physically abused him and his family for years. He broke a bone in his foot and fell repeatedly, but he continued on.

Yet his more impressive courage is intellectual and temperamental. Intellectually, he has challenged Chinese authorities, not to give up their hold on power, but instead to live up to the commitments they have made to Chinese citizens, on issues ranging from the rights of the disabled to protection against forced abortions. Temperamentally, he has remained resolute and optimistic, even while knowing that his family still in China is vulnerable to retribution, and that as an exile, he may lose influence in his homeland.

Also on the Brave Thinkers list is Shanghai-born architect Jun Xia, currently directing the design of the 121-floor Shanghai Tower.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, chen kegui, Christian Bale, civil society, corporate responsibility, Google, James Fallows, rule of law
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“Flesh searchers feel like they are sharing information in a system that does not have a comprehensive or consistent rule of law,” explained global tech sociologist, ethnographer and blogger Tricia Wang. “In a way, this is like an ad hoc, ground-up rule of law. It’s thrown together, it’s not very systematic, it can fall apart at any second — but what’s amazing is that there is no face-to-face contact and yet trust is able to form.”

Wang specifically cited the infamous and disturbing kitten-killer case.

In 2006, a video of a woman stomping a kitten to death with the sharp point of her high heel appeared on a Mop forum. With no recourse to file a formal complaint, outraged Chinese took matters into their own hands and, through a flesh search, found the culprit: Wang Jiao from Heilongjiang province. The woman summarily lost her “iron rice bowl” (铁饭碗), a coveted government job that usually lasts to retirement and pays a lifetime pension.

“Not everyone is doing it as a response to some moral compass to the government, or for even a righteousness reason,” said Tricia Wang. “We can instead see this as a more broad manifestation of a collective response to a society that’s undergoing some major debates; the issues that people are flesh searching really reveal the things that China is going through.”

The phenomenon isn’t new – The New York Times detailed its rise in a 2010 report – but has undoubtedly picked up steam as more and more Chinese have gained access to the web. Earlier this year, Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige entertained the subject in “Caught in the Web”, which called out the social pitfalls of China’s Internet culture. From The Global Times:

The film took in 147 million yuan (23 million US dollars) in the three weeks following its July 6 debut, a handsome performance for a domestic film.

Its popularity has spawned renewed debate regarding what the Chinese refer to as “human flesh searches,” or the practice of dredging up and publicizing the personal information of a person who is perceived by the public to have committed a grave wrongdoing.

Ye Lanqiu, the film’s protagonist, finds herself being targeted by a “human flesh search” after refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a senior citizen. When a reporter films the incident and broadcasts it on local television, Ye is targeted by netizens who expose the private details of her life online.

The film questions the role of mass media in society and taps into the controversial issue of Internet vigilantism, a phenomenon that has become more prevalent in tandem with the increasing popularity of the Internet in China.

See also previous CDT coverage of human flesh searching.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: human flesh search engines, information control, netizens, online public opinion, rule of law
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Bo’s only known communication with his family since his ouster was an emotional letter sent in April to his mother-in-law, Fan Chengxiu, written with a traditional Chinese brush. Bo said he hoped to quietly read books while waiting for his case to be resolved, according to a family associate who saw the letter.

[…T]he separate trials of Gu, Wang and four other police officers charged in the coverup left unanswered the crucial question of what Bo knew about the murder and when he knew it. Bo in April was stripped of his positions in the Politburo and the Party Central Committee, but he has not been charged with any crime.

He is thought to have been moved several times among government residences in Hebei province, Inner Mongolia and the outer suburbs of Beijing. Those reports could not be independently confirmed.

Choi Chi-yuk at South China Morning Post gives a detailed account of how Wang and Bo’s closely linked careers:

Wang probably came to Bo’s attention some time in 2003, when he was the secretary in the public security department of the Communist Party in Jinzhou City, in Liaoning, of which Bo had been appointed governor in 2001. Bo was appointed party secretary of Chongqing, a megacity of 33 million people in 2007.

[...] After his apparent success against organised crime in Chongqing on Bo’s behalf, Wang was fêted as a gangbuster by the common people, and took centre stage in public life. This celebrity came despite accusations by lawyers that he extracted confessions through torture and sacrificed due process in the pursuit of the so-called triad groups.

[...] In May last year, Bo promoted Wang to vice-mayor with responsibility for overseeing security while retaining his role as chief of police. As a result, Wang became seen as a rising political star who some day might play a key role in the national Public Security Ministry, when his mentor Bo assumed the high office to which he had seemed destined. The apparent improvement in law and order under Wang’s iron-fisted crackdown had, in turn, boosted Bo’s chances of winning a place on the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, to be decided at the 18th national congress later this year.

Although Wang’s sentencing was relatively lenient, some observers feel that he has become Bo’s human shield. From Shi Jingtao and Choi Chi-yuk at South China Morning Post:

A source close to Wang’s family told the South China Morning Post they believed Wang had been made a scapegoat for Bo.

The source commented: “Wang has apparently become a political victim because the government wants to protect the guy above him and avoid further humiliation.”

[...] Wang’s lawyer Wang Yuncai – not related to her client – confirmed to the Post that Bo was explicitly named during Wang’s trial when the court heard how Bo slapped Wang. But the fact Bo’s name was not mentioned at all by state media throughout the trials of Wang and Gu was seen by many, including Hong Kong analyst Johnny Lau Yui-siu, as a sure sign Bo will be treated leniently to avoid any repercussions on the imminent leadership transition.

Others link Bo’s case to the behind-the-scenes political jockeying between the factions of Hu Jintao and former leader Jiang Zemin. From Mark Mackinnon at The Globe and Mail:

Mr. Bo – a “princeling” whose father was a hero of the 1949 Communist Revolution – was once seen as a near-certainty to join the Standing Committee, and his downfall has exposed deep rifts in a party that normally excels at presenting at least a façade of unity. Mr. Bo’s fellow princelings, and their chief patron, former president Jiang Zemin, are battling to limit damage from the scandal and to check the gains made by a rival faction of Communist Youth League alumni, a grouping headed by President Hu Jintao.

The Youth League faction is broadly considered more reform-minded, while the princelings are seen as more conservative about further opening the economy or any changes to China’s one-party political system.

“It would show that Jiang Zemin and the conservatives still have substantial clout, if they can spare Bo Xilai,” Prof. Lam said.

Yet amid the public debate over the leniency of Wang’s sentencing, his family sees the conviction itself as showing a lack of justice in China. From Edward Wong at The New York Times:

“I feel desperate,” his younger sister, Wang Fengying, said in a telephone interview. “It’s too unfair.”

Mr. Wang’s lawyer, Wang Yuncai, who is not related to him, said in a telephone interview that the 15-year sentence was about what she expected. She said that Mr. Wang’s wife, though, was stunned. “She was utterly shocked and unwilling to accept such a result,” she said.

See more about Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai via CDT, and a chronicle of censorship of the case at Fei Chang Dao.

© Mengyu Dong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: abuse of power, Bo Xilai, Chongqing, corruption, gu kailai, justice, legal system, rule of law, Wang Lijun
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“I acknowledge and confess the guilt accused by the prosecuting body and show my repentance,” Wang said in his final statement at court.

“My acts were crimes, and I hope the serious impacts (caused by my acts) both at home and abroad would be eliminated through the trial. Meanwhile, I hope the trial will issue a warning to society and let more people draw lessons from me,” he said.

“For the Party organizations, people and relatives that have cared for me, I want to say here, sincerely, ‘I’m very, very sorry, I’ve let you down,’” Wang said.

Speaking to The New York Times, Wang’s lawyer endorsed the Xinhua account as, for the most part, a faithful record of the proceedings. It offers some explanation for the unannounced early start of what, it was initially reported, would be an “open” trial:

The Chengdu Municipal Intermediate People’s Court held a closed-door trial on Monday for Wang on the charges of defection and abuse of power and an open trial on the charges of bribe-taking and bending the law for selfish ends on Tuesday.

Despite the gravity of these crimes, Xinhua explained, Wang’s sentence is likely to be somewhat reduced because of his “meritorious reporting” of others’ criminal acts. These others may include his former superior, fallen Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, who for the first time was officially linked to the events surrounding his wife’s murder of Neil Heywood. The Xinhua account describes what would turn out to be a pivotal moment, soon after which Wang fled to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu; Bo is not named, but his identity is clear.

Relevant testimonies from witnesses showed that on Jan. 28, Wang Lijun reported to the then leading official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Chongqing Committee that Bogu Kailai was highly suspected in the Nov. 15, 2011 Case. On the morning of Jan. 29, Wang Lijun was angrily rebuked and slapped in the face by the official.

Guo Weiguo, who was present when Wang Lijun was slapped, said in the interrogation record that “the conflict was made public after Wang Lijun was slapped.”

That Bo was told of his wife’s crime and failed to bring it to light appears to implicate him in the cover-up for which Wang and four other police officers have already stood trial. Observers disagree, however, over what the episode’s inclusion in the official record means for Bo’s fate. From The Guardian:

[…] Kerry Brown, an expert on Chinese politics at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy, said the party could still deal with Bo’s case internally, adding: “It seems to have been very rigorous in keeping Bo’s malfeasance apart from Gu’s.

“That kind of story [about the confrontation] was so well known that it was hard not to try to address it.”

He added: “I can’t see any big gains from totally trashing Bo now. Not going for the jugular might be more sensible, particularly at the moment.”

But others have read it as a sign of possible criminal proceedings. June Teufel Dreyer of the University of Miami told Bloomberg, for example, that “the nuggets are the clues which could lead to a Bo Xilai indictment later on. They have very cleverly left the door open with several phrases.” The Financial Times’ Kathrin Hille wrote that this interpretation is consistent “with information recently given to senior party members. Lin Zhe, a professor at the Central Party School, said the main point that the internal investigation had found Mr Bo guilty of was helping to cover up for his wife.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Deborah Kan discussed the issue with Jeremy Page, who concluded that an announcement on Bo’s fate is likely “in the next couple of weeks, or immediately after [the] National Day holiday”.

The final section of the Xinhua account is devoted to emphasising the investigation and trial’s thoroughness, fairness and strict adherence to procedure:

Gu Mingan, a professor with the Law School of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics as well as an observer at the trials, said the two sides made full efforts to raise and cross-examine evidence during the trials, and the court scrupulously heard the opinions of the prosecutors as well as the defense counsel, fully reflecting the judicial concept of the equality of the prosecution and the defense, and safeguarded the sanctity of law.

After the trials, Wu Qunfang, a resident from the Taoyuan community in the Chenghua District of Chengdu, said that after the trials they have fully understood the beginning and subsequent development of Wang Lijun’s case.

“We believe that all is equal before the law and expect a fair verdict from the people’s court,” Wu said.

Global Times elaborated, stressing the inevitability of justice in China and invoking a favourite recent theme, the awesome “moral whip” of online scrutiny.

Those who commit crimes, regardless of the power or position they hold, will not escape punishment. Wang’s case has strengthened this faith among the public and served as a serious deterrent in the country.

Wang’s trial will drive forward China’s political system, as it has highlighted the urgency of checks and balance of power.

Confusion still exists over the case, but people are gradually believing more that justice will eventually trump over any privilege.

Confidence is built on more criminal officials being firmly punished, on the influential emergence of online supervision and the rising voice of individuals via Weibo.

But the Xinhua account leaves some questions unanswered. Siweiluozi wondered, for example, what evidence exists that Wang had applied to the U.S. for asylum, justifying the charge of defection.

[… W]hat I really, really want to know now, though, is what is the prosecution’s evidence for this? Do they have the application for asylum? If so, how did they get it? Or is their evidence of this fact Wang’s confession?

If the evidence for Wang’s asylum application is based solely on his confession, then this should be insufficient grounds to convict under Chinese law, since Article 46 of the Criminal Procedure Law states, in relevant part:

A defendant cannot be found guilty and sentenced to a criminal punishment if there is only his statement but no evidence.

To be clear, I am not saying that Wang will (or even necessarily should, within the terms of Chinese criminal justice) be acquitted of defection. I’m merely pointing to what I think is an interesting question regarding evidence. Put simply: what is the evidence to back up this charge? Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic that I will ever see either the verdict in this trial or, through some other means, the evidence disclosed in sufficient detail.

Xinhua’s description of Wang’s actions after he was drawn into Gu’s conspiracy, such as secretly keeping hold of evidence against her, shows his acute awareness of being on treacherous ground. But according to a profile of Wang’s earlier career by The Telegraph’s Malcolm Moore, he had known for many years that his position was precarious:

As early as the late 1990s, when Mr Wang was a star policeman in the city of Tieling, in Liaoning province, he spilled his fears to Zhou Lijun, the script writer of “Iron Blooded Police Spirits”, a television drama series based on his career. “I was in a bath house with Wang Lijun in Fushun, Liaoning, and we were both sitting naked in the hot tub,” Mr Zhou recalled on his blog.

“And he said: ‘I know exactly what I am, I am just a piece of chewing gum in the officials’ mouths. They will chew me up and when they find there is no taste anymore they will spit me out onto the ground, and God knows whose shoes I will be sticking to by that time.’”

[…] “Everybody has some sort of mental problem,” Mr Wang told Mr Chen, his biographer. “I dream about a normal life, but it is not possible. I am struggling between glory and confusion, but I will not let myself collapse. I may be wiped out by certain powers, or die when I am still young, but history will remember me.”

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: abuse of power, Bo Guagua, Bo Xilai, Chengdu, Chongqing, corrupt officials, corruption, defection, Global Times, gu kailai, justice, legal system, Neil Heywood, rule of law, Wang Lijun, Xinhua
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