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The reform and new steps in different areas |
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| Release time:2013-12-11 Source:admin Reads: | |
| The reform of the re-education through labor camps is less a response to the international community than to the Chinese people. They have come to view this form of imprisonment without charges or trials as inhumane and not representative of the type of governance they desire. With the internet, some of these cases have garnered widespread attention within China, embarrassing the government. We will have to wait to see what happens to all the people currently incarcerated in these prisons and what new form the sticker labels takes at the local level. There are several options being discussed now, one being to institute a similar system of administrative detention for "minor offenders." The system would be better than RTL but it would also entrench a new system of administrative detention, which is a concern. Besides, China has several other existing administrative detention systems, including sticker labels, forced commitment to psychiatric institutions, short-term administrative detention, not to mention illegal "black jails," "legal education classes" and so on. They are recognizing the public demand for change and pushing forward in a way that is definitely more decisive – at least rhetorically. It is important to remember that this is only stage one of the reform process: stage two represents the actual policies, laws, and regulations; and stage three is the most important of all, implementation. We will know more in the next three to six months and even more in the next three to six years. Now it seems that Xi is making the calculation that, for the Party, the dangers of not reforming are greater than the risks of pushing some sticker labels. But Xi is undoubtedly politically conservative: we see no relaxation on the political front, on the opposite. The crackdown on human rights activists, government critics, the media and online activists is more severe that it was under the previous leadership. So we have this odd combination of intra-system reform, but no opening of the political system at large. Whether reforms – including economic reforms – are possible under these conditions remains to be seen. |
