Institutions of Democratic Governance

Jilin provincial authorities will allow citizens to challenge internal, nonpublic regulations that administrative agencies often rely on as a legal basis for government action, according to a report appearing on the Ministry of Justice Web site. Media reports and scholars have criticized the use of such internal regulations, which are often drafted without citizen participation.

The Jilin measures allow citizens to apply to the provincial legal affairs office for review of internal local regulations and require the review to be completed within two months. The measures also authorize the legal affairs office to declare invalid those regulations that fail the review.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA) has begun preparing proposals for revising laws on villagers and urban residents committees (VCs, RCs), the lowest level of governance in China. Provincial MOCA officials convened in Qingdao in late October to prepare proposals for draft amendments to the Organic Law on Villagers Committees, according to a November 3 article posted on the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Web site. A November 7 Legal Daily article notes that MOCA has submitted draft amendments to the Organic Law on Urban Residents Committees to the State Council.

Five members of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee have expressed support for holding public hearings for all draft laws that are of interest to the general public, according to an October 25 China Youth Daily report posted on the Xinhua Web site.

Shi Zongyuan, Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), said that Chinese authorities have halted plans to allow foreign newspapers to print in China because of concerns raised by the recent "color revolutions" against Soviet-era leaders in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, reports a November 16 article in the Financial Times (subscription required). GAPP Deputy Director Liu Binjie said in November 2004 that China would "allow foreign newspapers to come and print in China . . .

Public security officials in Guangzhou formally arrested rural activist Guo Feixiong on October 4, over three weeks after a Chinese news source reported him as missing and likely to be in police custody, according to the Epoch Times, BBC, and South China Morning Post (subscription required). Officials detained Guo on September 13 and have charged him with "gathering people to disturb public order," a crime under Article 290 of China's Criminal Law.

Anhui provincial authorities have expanded an experimental merger of Communist Party and government township level posts to 17 counties throughout the province, according to an October 19 article in the 21st Century Business Herald. The experiment began in late 2004 in Xuancheng city. The reforms require the township Party secretary to serve concurrently as the head of the township government. Individual township reforms require lower level Party officials to hold other government positions. For example, one township's rules require deputy township Party secretaries to head both the local people's congress (LPC) and the discipline committee.

The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will "carry out strict screening of information contents on cellular phones, pagers, and fixed line phones" during October, to "address the increased spread of pornography, superstition, and other unhealthy content," according to an October 7 Beijing News article posted on the Beijing News Web site. The article said that the screening would be done pursuant to the Notice Regarding Further Strengthening Control Over the Dissemination of Harmful Information Over Mobile Telecommunication Networks (Notice), which the MII also issued the same day.

Lu Banglie, a local people's congress representative escorting an British journalist seeking to report on events in Taishi village, Guangdong province, was beaten by a number of unidentified individuals on October 9, according to an October 10 Guardian report and an October 11 South China Morning Post (SCMP) report (subscription required). Similarly, reporters working for Radio France and the SCMP were assaulted on October 7, according to an October 10 SCMP article (subscription required).