Rule of personal politics in China
Democracy may or may not be playing a bigger role in Chinese leadership selection, but Edward Cody's report in the Washington Post suggests that rule of law is still threatened by the way things work. It's important to hold up contratry examples as well. And for that I recommend looking for examples at China Law Blog.Businessman's Defeat Illustrates Party's Rule
"Almost a year has gone by since a court ruled that Zhang Chunjiang was wronged, and still he feels aggrieved.
"Zhang used to be a deputy manager -- and the main shareholder -- of Huilong Paper Corp.... until the [local] government decided it was time to sell the company. So one day, authorities auctioned it off, even though it was privately owned.
"When the Shanxi provincial High Court later ruled that the government should pay Zhang, 48, nearly half a million dollars...he thought that he, at least, as the major stakeholder, would finally get his due after such a clear-cut decision from the province's highest court. He was wrong.
"Instead of settling up Zhang's claim, the district government has resisted, thus demonstrating the hard power of China's Communist Party system -- the enduring ability of local officials to override the rule of law that is regularly heralded by national leaders in Beijing...
"Xiong Wenzhao, a law professor at the Central University of Nationalities in Beijing, said party and government authorities can defy such court rulings because the court system is, in effect, a branch of the party without independent authority. The government names judges and pays their salaries, he noted.
"'China has a lack of judicial independence,' he said. 'The government intervenes in judicial affairs on a daily basis. If we cannot set up an independent judicial system, the enforcement problem will never be solved.'...
"Then last month, as local party leaders sought to bargain with him, the Public Security Bureau sent a notice to the High Court saying Zhang was suspected of economic crimes during his stewardship of Huilong's finances. As a result, it said, no money should be paid out to his account...
Zhang said his interpretation is that the Yuci District authorities are reluctant to abide by the court rulings because handing over that much money could provoke an official investigation. During the probe, he said, their conduct during the illegal auction and their relationships to An would also be examined, raising questions about how the deal was decided and why the price was so low..."
Labels: China, rule-of-law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:04 AM
1 Comments:
I have nothing much contrary to cases like this. My contention that rule of law is improving has to do solely with business to business disputes. When the government is involved, all bets are off.
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