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Legal reforms could strengthen 'rule of law' in China

But is Xi Jinping truly committed to making the judicial system more open and fair for the average Chinese citizen?
Legal reforms could strengthen 'rule of law' in China

Chinese villagers hold placards reading 'I want a home' and 'firmly resist illegal demolition' as they protest against low compensations following land seizure disputes with local government and a property developer in Beixin village, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province in 2011 (AFP Photo)

Published: November 03, 2014 09:33 AM GMT
Updated: November 02, 2014 09:33 PM GMT

On Saturday, the Chinese government passed legislation that it claims will make it easier for its citizens to take the authorities and state enterprises to court over issues including land disputes: a growing problem across the country.

In the latest incident, eight people were killed last month when villagers in Yunnan province burned four construction workers to death — eight died in total — in a dispute caused by a developer seizing land, with the backing of local officials.

In such cases, ordinary citizens have gone to extreme measures when they have felt there is no other option.

Although it is still expected that residents may struggle to find a court to hear their cases, the new law marks the latest sign that legal change in China is gathering pace.

It follows the recent Fourth Plenum of the 205-member Communist Party Standing Committee which last week issued a comprehensive action plan to improve “rule of law”.

Each Plenum sets policy priorities for the year ahead, and last month’s was the first since 1997 to focus on China’s weak and notoriously unfair legal system. As such, it was long overdue.

The brief communiqué at the close of the Plenum on October 23 outlined the main thrust of the plan, and was followed six days later by a detailed, yet still fluffy, “decision” spelling out how it would work, in theory.

Party supremo Xi Jinping described the law that followed as a “sister” document to last year’s blueprint for sweeping economic reform as he looks to overhaul government 18 months into his presidency.

The document stressed the supreme authority of China’s constitution, a major debate inside the party with leftists concerned its own decision-making process — rather than the charter — should remain at the apex of authority.

It also outlined a raft of moves to improve and strengthen the nation’s heavily politicized legal apparatus.

Party officials must now swear allegiance to the constitution instituted by Deng Xiaoping 30 years ago as part of post-Mao reforms. The Constitution ostensibly protects the freedom of speech, press, religion and general assembly.

In practice, all of these freedoms have deteriorated under Xi so it remains difficult to imagine that this gesture in the direction of the constitution will produce progress in the real world.

The other central thrust of the communiqué and the law — which is likely to yield tangible results — was the promise of far-reaching reforms to the judicial system to make it more open and fair for the average Chinese citizen.

In a bid to break the nexus between the party and the judiciary, judges will be chosen from the legal profession instead of the party ranks, most of whom have no legal training: Zhou Qiang became the first trained lawyer to head the Supreme People’s Court last year.

Circuit courts will be introduced in an effort to prevent long-running relationships between cadres, and judges and their legal reach may be rearranged so as not to overlap with local jurisdictions. The aim, again, is to break the influence of Communist cadre over the legal system.

A systematic career path will be developed for judiciary and state prosecutors that will see promising candidates receiving promotion to higher courts, judges will also now be made responsible for decisions over the lifetime of their careers and trials will become more transparent. More public broadcasts and access to judicial opinions are expected as a result.

In addition, court verdicts will be considered with reference to other decisions, a signal that the party wants to move towards some reliance on precedence rather than the political winds of the time. Perhaps most significant will be the introduction of juries in some courts, a rare chance for ordinary Chinese to have a bearing on what happens inside the courtroom.

The reforms are closely linked to Xi’s anti-corruption drive — the centerpiece of his administration — which has so far ensnared 80 officials of ministerial rank and above. Some 8,000 officials were investigated in the first six months of this year alone, more than 20 percent above the number of cases over the same period last year.

Like the anti-graft campaign, legal reforms represent a risky strategy by Xi aimed at instilling faith back into the organs of state while undermining party authority, even if the police, judiciary and prosecutors will remain subject to supervision by the Political and Legal Committee.

Still, any hope that fundamental judicial reform would see even some independence for China’s legal system remains only a distant expectation.

Xi has said that “the rule of law is the Communist Party’s basic strategy to govern the country and a fundamental way of managing state affairs” to great fanfare in the state media.

But it’s a fine balance. If the promises of the Plenum are fulfilled then ordinary Chinese will gain from a fairer system while eroding the authority of his own party. If he fails, then the population will have yet another reason to lose faith in China’s Communist rulers.

Michael Sainsbury is a Bangkok-based journalist and commentator.

 

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