JOE McDONALD
AP
Saturday, February 3, 2007
BEIJING -- The Communist Party must safeguard its control of
China's courts to combat enemy forces that want to "Westernize"
the country, a party leader said in comments published this week.
His remarks highlighted the clash between the party's desire
to maintain control and its promises to create an independent
court system in a society where officials traditionally have unchecked
power.
The party "must defend against infiltration and sabotage
activities that threaten state security," Luo Gan, a member
of the party's ruling nine-man Standing Committee, said in a speech
reprinted in the party magazine Seeking Truth.
In recent years, "enemy forces have tried in vain to attack
and change our country's legal system," said Luo, the ruling
party's top law and order official. He said unspecified foreign
non-governmental groups were among those threatening state security.
"Enemy forces always use political and legal organs as an
important breaking point in a strategy to Westernize and divide
our country," Luo said.
Communist leaders periodically go through such bouts of public
anxiety, warning that social and legal changes meant to promote
China's economic reforms might erode party control.
President Hu Jintao has warned about threats to communist power
from foreign groups that work with Chinese activists promoting
the rule of law and the rights of farmers and other groups.
Officials were ordered to step up scrutiny of groups working
with Chinese legal activists after the "color revolutions"
in Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations, where protests helped
oust unpopular governments.
China's courts have undergone sweeping changes in recent years
as the party expanded their role in settling commercial and social
disputes and promised to use them to promote human rights.
But judges still submit important rulings for approval by ruling
party officials before they are issued.
The party must maintain ideological control over China's courts
and any legal reforms "must strengthen party leadership ...
and consciously safeguard central authority," Luo said.
One of the party's key concerns is the surge in cases brought
by farmers challenging the seizure of farmland for construction
of factories, power plants, shopping malls and other projects.
Beijing has responded by tightening controls over lawyers who
represent people with grievances. Activist lawyers have been jailed,
harassed or stripped of their licenses.
Rules issued last year require lawyers to provide information
on their clients, discourage them from petitioning the government
and alert authorities to possible protests.
They discourage lawyers from talking to foreign reporters and
say they will be held responsible if disputes "intensify."
Activists have criticized the rules as a violation of international
standards and Beijing's promises of judicial independence.
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