Institutions of Democratic Governance
Public security officials in Zhenjiang city, Jiangsu province, have arrested freelance writer Yang Tongyan (also known as Yang Tianshui) on suspicion of "subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105(1) of the Criminal Law, according to a January 30 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) press release citing unnamed sources. Public security officials in Nanjing city, Jiangsu province, detained Yang on December 23. On January 28 the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) reported that Yang's family received a notice of the arrest on January 27.
According to PEN Canada, Yu, then a deputy editor of the Liuyang Daily, traveled from Changsha city, Hunan province, to Beijing on May 19, 1989. He was a representative of the Hunan Delegation in Support of the Beijing Students, which traveled to join the Tiananmen democracy protests. On May 23, Yu and two others - Yu Zhijian and Lu Decheng - threw paint at the portrait of Mao Zedong that faces Tiananmen Square from the Forbidden City. Police immediately arrested the three. Yu was tried on July 11, 1989, and on August 11, the Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yu to 20 years in prison and 5 years deprivation of political rights for "counterrevolutionary propaganda" and "counterrevolutionary sabotage and incitement," crimes under Articles 100 and 102 of China's 1979 Criminal Law. In 1997, authorities transferred Yu to Yuanjiang Prison in Hunan.
Authorities in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, released Zhu Yufu, a China Democracy Party (CDP) leader, on September 15 after he completed a seven-year sentence for participating in pro-democracy activities, according to a September 17 Voice of America (VOA) article (in Chinese). Other sources, such as a September 14 Radio Free Asia (RFA) interview (in Chinese), report that Zhu was released on September 14, the date that his sentence expired under Article 47 of the Criminal Law. The VOA article and the RFA interview further note that Zhu was released from Zhejiang No. 6 Prison, also known as Qiaosi Prison, where he served most of his sentence. Zhu is subject to three years' deprivation of political rights after release.
Central government officials announced that they will punish local government officials for protecting local enterprises that pollute the environment, according to a September 15 China Daily article and a September 28 Xinhua article. The announcement came after a series of pollution incidents and the finding that pollution increased in the first half of 2006, according to the China Daily article and an August 20 Xinhua article. Specifically, the emission of major pollutants increased in 17 provinces over the first six months of 2006, even though the government pledged to reduce emissions by 2 percent this year, according to the August 20 Xinhua article.
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has issued new Provisions on the Procedures for Handling Administrative Cases (2006 Provisions) to conform with and further clarify provisions under the Public Security Administration Punishment Law (PSAPL), according to a September 12 Q&A (in Chinese) posted on the MPS Web site. The 2006 Provisions went into effect on August 24, 2006, and replace earlier Provisions that were issued in 2003.
Supreme People's Court (SPC) President Xiao Yang and Vice President Cao Jianming on September 12 announced new restrictions on news media access to information regarding court cases, according to a September 12 Xinhua report and a September 13 Xinhua report. The policies include a requirement that news media obtain information from court spokespersons and not interview judges and other court officials without government permission, a requirement that courts must receive government approval to make announcements in sensitive cases, and a prohibition on a court's release of certain types of information, including "any other information that a court's leaders instruct should not be released," according to the September 13 Xinhua report.
A senior Ministry of Public Security (MPS) official disclosed the use of mass roundup measures to maintain social order during the early March annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), according to official sources. The CPPCC plenary session began on March 3, and the NPC plenary convened on March 5. Xu Hu, Deputy Director of the MPS's Department for the Management of Public Order, said at a March 2 press conference that public security officials will round up those "people without proper professions, fixed places of residence, or stable incomes who have been hanging around Beijing for a long time" and encourage them to leave the capital, according to a Chinese-language transcript posted on the China Internet Information Center's (CIIC) Web site. The CIIC Web site operates under the auspices of the State Council.
Government authorities have acted to strengthen police responsibility for responding to citizen petitions, according to Chinese news reports and the Public Security Bureau (PSB) Rules on Xinfang Work issued on August 18. The move is likely a response to the mounting number of petitions, many of which take the form of disruptive or violent protests.
The Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Communist Party Central Committee issued a "Circular on Solving the Enforcement Problem of Chinese Courts" on January 23, according to an article published on the China Court Web site on the same date. The article's commentary on the circular indicates that a campaign on enforcement of judicial decisions led by the Party is now under way, as a result of official concern about mounting social unrest.
Chinese officials are experimenting with reforms that allow a limited degree of public participation by citizens in the selection of local Communist Party officials. Ouyang Song, Deputy Director of the Party's Organization Department and Deputy Director of the Leading Group for the "advanced education" campaign, noted at a March 1 State Council press conference that these "public nomination, direct election" experiments are currently under way in 217 counties in 13 provinces.
While these reforms allow some citizen participation in the selection of the local Party officials who control local governments, they remain highly limited in practice. Experimental projects in many localities only grant citizens a small role in the nomination of potential candidates, allow Party committees significant authority to strike names from the nominee lists, and give Party members the final authority to choose officials.