Institutions of Democratic Governance
Two private citizens have petitioned the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) to resolve an apparent contradiction between national and local legal requirements related to marriage registration, according to an article in the Procuratorate Daily. In July 2005, Heilongjiang provincial officials amended a local rule to require couples to submit evidence of a medical examination before they may obtain a marriage license. Although the rule is consistent with the 1994 Law on Mother and Infant Health Care, which requires evidence of such exams to be presented before authorities register a marriage, it conflicts with the State Council Marriage Registration Regulations issued in 2003, which specifically abolish such compulsory medical examinations.
On August 15, the English-language version of the People’s Daily published an adapted version of Professor Jerome Cohen’s statement at a recent CECC hearing. The hearing, entitled "Law in Political Transitions: Lessons From East Asia and the Road Ahead for China," was held on July 26. For Professor Cohen’s full written statement to the CECC, click here. For the People’s Daily adaptation, click here. For a comparison of the two versions, click here.
The Communist Party's Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission (CDIC) and the Ministry of Supervision (MOS) on August 26 jointly announced the results of anti-corruption efforts for the first half of 2005. The announcement said that 25 provinces and 36 ministries and commissions have taken measures to carry out the "Outline of a System Stressing Education, Institutions, and Prevention to Punish and Prevent Corruption in China," that the Politburo published on January 16, 2005.
Xinhua reports that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have jointly issued a notice titled "Opinion Regarding Further Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Political Education of College Students" (also referred to as "Document Number 16"). Some excerpts from the Xinhua report on the Opinion:
At least 40 percent of all new civil servants (other than teachers) recruited through civil service examinations in the Bayingguoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang must "in theory" be ethnic minorities, according to a July 27 decision announced by the prefectural government. About 42 percent of the prefecture's total population are minorities. The decision also pledged to grant tax incentives that the Xinjiang government approved in 2002 to enterprises that increase their total workforce by at least 25 percent with new minority hires.
Three senior Chinese officials recently acknowledged rising social unrest in China and attributed its causes to economic grievances, failures on the part of local cadres, and rising rights consciousness by Chinese citizens, according to a series of articles (1, 2, 3, subscription required) in the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on June 22 that officials in a Zhejiang province township had banned the sale of the May edition of Rural Youth magazine because of an article criticizing local officials. According to RFA, the Sun newspaper of Hong Kong reported that Rural Youth's May edition included an article entitled "Treasuring the Land that We Rely Upon for our Existence" that revealed how officials in Shangyu municipality's Lihai township abused their authority to give away and sell state-owned land at low prices to commercial developers. Following the magazine's publication, no copies were available from magazine vendors, and a Shangyu government official said that subscribers did not receive their copies.
In response to a March 2005 call by the General Offices of the Party Central Committee and State Council to increase government transparency, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) recently met to discuss its own Plan for Implementing Greater Transparency in Ethnic Affairs Work. The director of the SEAC's newly established Leading Group for Transparency in Ethnic Minority Work called on "every office and every person" to recognize the importance of incorporating greater transparency into their daily government work. The Leading Group plans to publish its working plan within the next six months.
Guangdong officials have instituted a system of electoral observers for village elections to be held in 2005, according to a Xinhua report. Although limited in scope, the introduction of the system is an effort to ensure greater electoral fairness in local village elections.
The State Council announced July 26 that it had referred a draft government information disclosure regulation to the relevant agency for issuance. Neither the State Council nor any other Chinese government agency has released a draft of the measure, although China's WTO transparency commitments in effect require public release of draft regulations before final promulgation.
At a July 26 press conference, a State Council Informatization Office official said that the regulation would make the release of government information mandatory. The official did not define the term "government information" or discuss any other possible limits on disclosure that might be contained in the regulation. The official did not disclose which central government agency would issue the regulation, when it would be issued, or when it would take effect.