In an unusual and unprecedented move, the Chinese government sent a strong message to its citizens seeking legal redress in Beijing: stay home, or be seriously penalized. Petitioners routinely travel to the capital to seek assistance regarding what they see as the failure of their local system, such as corruption in the courts, land-grabbing by local government officials, beatings by police, or the refusal of local government offices to comply with court orders. On August 18, the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC) of the Communist Party of China declared that people are no longer able to travel to Beijing for this purpose. Rather, legal officials from Beijing will now travel to them; petitioners are also able to file complaints online. While the Chinese government insisted it would be more efficient for these issues to remain at a local level, the reasons they gave for opposing legal travel ranged from needing to maintain social order and judicial authority to preventing mass incidents, giving the decree an oppressive tone.
This new development in China’s legal system serves to silence those who would expose official corruption and abuse. The Chinese government is particularly keen to prevent citizens from demonstrating against government failings so near to the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, which will take place on October 1, 2009. The Associated Press Reports that “Zhou Benshun, the party official, was quoted as saying government officials should be particularly careful in handling public complaints ahead of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, an important event for the leadership.” It seems that the Chinese government wants those who present evidence of imperfections within the Chinese legal system or mistreatment at the hands of Communist officials to remain hidden from public view. The travelers seek out the help of the Beijing appeals offices of The Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate, along with appeals offices in various ministries. While these offices will remain open, the government wishes to prevent travel to them and the public protests that are often staged by the travelers, because these actions are much more visible than those of the Beijing residents who use the system, and because they exacerbate the idea that the suppression of democracy and the rule of law persist throughout the country to the point that it drives people into the capital to speak out against it. The travel ban is a blow to citizens’ attempts to utilize and strengthen China’s legal system.
The tone of the travel ban is anti-democratic and anti-rule of law. In issuing the travel ban, PLAC used language that made it clear that legal protections in China only extend so far, stating that “safeguarding people’s rights and interests should be in line with maintaining social stability and judicial authority.” While there is nothing particularly ominous about this phrasing, accessing an appeals process established by the Chinese government is not a threat to social order nor is it an act of rebellion against authority. Rather, it should be viewed as justice at work. Now, however, those who are caught traveling to the capital to file such an appeal will have their case dismissed. To say that cases are most efficiently dealt with at a local level is a logical organization of judicial resources, and yet to prevent people from complaining about the deficiencies of their local government prevents legal reform and silences discussion about corruption within the Chinese government. If the Chinese government wants both its own people and the rest of the world to believe that 60 years on the Communist Party of China is still worth celebrating, their attempts to keep their citizens from accessing what is supposed to be a functioning legal system sends the opposite message.
