Low expectations as China considers legal reforms

BEIJING — The most important meeting of the year for the 205 members of China’s ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee, beginning Monday, will focus on how to rule the country in accordance with law.

That has fed hopes that the party might move to respect the letter and spirit of the constitution, but some legal experts and political analysts say the country’s leaders are intent on expanding power, not limiting it.

There may be some efforts at the four-day plenum to discourage rampant corruption in low-level courts, they say, but the key goal will be to build a legal system that protects and strengthens the party’s political dominance.

“There is absolutely zero chance that the plenum session will see support for constitutional reform that imposes meaningful checks on party power,” said Carl Minzner, a law professor and expert on the Chinese legal system at Fordham Law School in New York.

As usual, this year’s plenary session will be held in a conclave in Beijing, and its decisions, expected to be announced after the conclusion, set the broad policy framework for the upcoming year. It’s not clear if the meeting will discuss the protests in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy students have occupied key streets for three weeks to demand that Beijing change its decision to screen candidates for first open elections in the semiautonomous city in 2017.

Party-controlled media are already gearing up to tout great legal progress to come, but some observers expect the party to continue something it has done since President Xi Jinping took power nearly two years ago: Step up efforts to suppress criticism and dissent.

“The developments over the past year under Xi’s leadership have signaled deep disregard for the law as a tool for resolving grievances in an impartial manner,” said Maya Wang, researcher with Human Rights Watch. “The detentions and sham trials of activists … show just how China’s legal system has remained an instrument of the party’s power.”

Yet, the party will seek changes to bring some fairness to the local level, where unrest stemming from lack of justice has flared up into violence.

Last week, a land dispute in a southwestern town left two villagers and six construction workers dead after villagers took up farm tools to fight what they saw as unfair seizure of their lands for a government-backed commercial project. The villagers told state media they have no legal venue in which to seek redress.

In hopes of improving justice at the local level, the plenary meeting is expected to give provincial courts supervisory powers over their county-level peers in the areas of funding and appointments, removing the lower courts from the influence of local authorities.

Other changes may include vetting of judges to ensure they are professionally qualified and making more verdicts available to the public to hold judges accountable for their rulings.

Legal scholar Xie Youping at Fudan University said those incremental changes would be moves in the right direction. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Yet China’s courts reside firmly under the party’s control and Communist leaders have repeatedly ruled out adopting the Western notions of an independent judiciary and that all must conform to law.

Contrary to the principles of the rule of law, Chinese law has been molded to the party’s will, dissident legal scholar Zhang Xuezhong said.

The rhetoric for rule of law “is only a propaganda slogan that will not be seriously dealt with by the party,” Zhang said. Rule of law is “incompatible with an authoritarian regime,” he said.

Even if the party should pledge to operate within the law, it could merely be paying the lip service, said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

China’s Constitution says no group should be above the law and guarantees rights of free speech and assembly, yet in reality, the party has ruled with legal impunity and, people are routinely detained over political speech.

To help gradually build up the authority of the constitution, some legal scholars have proposed to establish a committee to arbitrate on the constitutionality of laws and regulations, although others warn that the court could still remain within the party’s grips.

Still, some scholars are hoping for a declaration, even if it is just a slogan, to serve as a cover to argue for deeper reforms.

The upcoming plenary needs to make a statement that “our party is not a party that opposes constitutional rule,” said former official Wu Jiaxiang, adding that the constitution is the supreme law.

Party propaganda appears to run counter to constitutional rule. Last year, a string of editorials appeared in state media, warning that constitutional rule would subvert the party’s rule. In recent weeks, party theoreticians have argued that rule of law should not replace China’s current political and social system with the party at its apex.

But the pervasive corruption that erodes public trust and threatens party rule is driving the need for further legal reform, said Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

Ad-hoc anti-graft campaigns that have brought down prominent politicians are only treating the symptoms without tackling the root causes, Li said. “Ultimately it is the legal system that can prevent this kind of outrageous corruption.”

Putting the party under the constitution would be a “very important change in ideology that will pave the way for many changes to come,” Li said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.