From Southern Weekend, translated by EastSouthWestNorth:
Our newspaper had exclusive interviews with Chongqing Jiulongpo district party secretary Zheng Hong, Jiulongpo district court director Zhang Li and the “nail house” owner Wu Ping who “vanished” after the settlement was reached. This report describes in detail how the public crisis was resolved through mediation and what is in it for each of the parties involved.
The roles of the local Chongqing officials in the matter of “the most awesome nail house in history” are perplexing. Some people say that they are the most tolerant local officials. Other people believe that they are different from other local officials who are trying to effect urban transformation. But one thing that is certain is that this was a situation that had not been encountered for many years.
The affair was reported first on the Internet and was followed up by the traditional media. The traditional media and the Internet interacted actively with each other, and there was a lot of social emotions behind that interaction. This drew countless number of overseas reporters, so that the image of China depended on how well the case was handled. More important, the Property Rights Law and just been passed and almost all the observers were using the outcome of this case as a measure of the degree to which China will move towards the protection of private property. Now that the matter is over, we ask just what were the roles of the Chongqing officials? During those days of excitement, what were they doing?
Zheng Hong said that he was in “in the midst of the storm.” And the center of that “storm” was the “island” of Yang Wu.
……”Some comrades even proposed a joint press conference by the court, the Housing Administration and the district government. The court felt that this was very inappropriate. The Housing Administration is an administrative unit whereas the court reviews the administrative orders made by the Housing Administration. A joint press conference will cause people to question the independence of the court.” Zhang Li said.
As district party secretary, Zheng Hong recognized this. “In other countries, government officials and judges will not sit down together. But foreign reporters do not understand party leadership in China.” In the end, the court held its own press conferences. Similarly, when the government held its own press conferences, the court did not participate.
The other details also reflected the nervousness at the time: where should the press conference be held? how many people should they plan for? will the householders show up to cause trouble? should the court police be brought in to control the situation? should the court police wear uniforms or plain clothes?
…… There was one point that was questioned by <Caijing> magazine and scholars such as Hua Xinmin. Between the launching of the project to the start of the relocation, the land development did not have the permit to use state land. Zheng Hong responded: “In Chongqing city, the two permits are combined. In practice, the land developer can proceed to propose relocation. Before an agreement is reached, the right of land use remains with the household to be relocated. Therefore, the land developer cannot possibly have a land use permit before that. Based upon the relocation regulations in Chongqing city, this model for relocation is admissible.”
Therefore, Zheng Hong believes that urban redevelopment cannot continue down this road. In the future, when a relocation project should be cleared out by the government first and then the project is put up for public auction . This avoids the suspicion about collusion between government and business. This is something that will requite determination to achieve.
“This affair does not stop here because we still need to have more self-criticisms.” Jiulongpo district court director Zhang Li said. He believes that reflections in the judiciary should continue about the implications of this case for all relocations in China. There should be broad attention and discussions. For example, how is the public interest determined? how is the appropriate compensation for a relocated household to be determined? These questions require urgent consideration and whatever needs to be amended should be amended. “Our work was only to delay or avoid the worst case scenario,” he said. [Full Text]
