Religious Policy in the People's Republic of China: an alternative perspective

During the first 30 years of its existence, the People's Republic of China (PRC) committed itself to making atheist Marxism the fundamental ideology of the country, depriving the Chinese people of their constitutional right of religious liberty. Since 1979, new policies, regulations, and legislation impacting religious freedom have been created and implemented. This paper proposes an unconventional framework for understanding China's religious policy. It attempts to explain the evolution of this policy through an analysis of the party's changing view of religion; the nature of its new religious policy and law; and the function of its supervision of religion. It calls for the consideration of the validity of a distinctive Chinese model in religious affairs similar to that which has evolved in economic development.     

Political Liberalization without Democratization: Pan Wei's proposal for political reform

This paper is a response to Pan Wei's rule of law regime reform proposal. It agrees with Pan that the direction of political reform taken and discussed inside China is indeed different from the democratization that has been pushed by outside pro-democracy activists, including Chinese dissidents. While some Chinese scholars and think-tank analysts talk about political reform, they are not proposing to democratize the polity but to make the single party rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) more efficient or to provide it with a more solid legal base. They have looked upon political liberalization without democratization as an alternative solution to many of China's problems related to the extant authoritarian system. Pan Wei's proposal for building a rule-of-law regime is a representative work of this group of Chinese intellectuals.     

Burgeoning Transnationalism of Taiwan's Social Movement NGOs

So far as Taiwan's foreign relations are concerned, in parallel to the state's diplomacy and state-blessed Track-II maneuvering, there has emerged a more natural and meaningful phenomenon: i.e. grassroots solidarity between Taiwanese activist NGOs and their foreign counterparts, as a result of the joint pursuit of common social justice goals. It is high time that voluntary transnational activism was studied for a more comprehensive understanding of Taiwan's foreign relations in the era of democratization and surging activism of transnational social movement campaigns. This paper discusses the internationalization of Taiwan's social movement NGOs: their background, motivations, activities, and roles in transnational politics. Special attention is paid to the fact that while Taiwanese NGO activities in the transnational NGO community by nature ignore and disregard the state's diplomatic interests, both the quality and quantity of such activities have been severely restricted by Taiwan's poor diplomatic status in the inter-state community. This is a unique paradox not studied in the mainstream discourse on transnational civil society.     

系统论视野下中国古代的礼与法

中国传统法是礼与法的共同体,中国传统社会是礼与法共同运作的有机体。中国古代礼与法关系问题的讨论,以往的研究视角多采用历史分析法,从礼与法的起源、各自的作用、国家主义的立场等方面予以探讨,这对于明晰两者关系、理解中华法系的精髓和中国传统法文化的基本精神是颇有助益的。本文尝试着将卢曼的法律社会学的系统论导入礼法关系的分析架构中。中国古代社会本身是由礼与法构成的独特社会结构,本文并非指涉礼法关系的内部结构,而是从社会结构这一个外部的视角,以系统论的思路与方法探究两者的关系,以系统功能分化的理论探究中国古代礼与法运作过程中出现了三个方面的悖论,表明在中国古代礼法没有相对的系统分立,而是浑然一体的。     

论我国公安教育的依托模式

公安高等教育为警察教育、培训提供了坚实的基础和智力支撑,以公安高等教育为基础开展警察教育、培训,一方面提高了教育、培训的平台,适应社会发展的需要,普遍提高了警察执法能力;另一方面为开展与警察执法相关的科学研究创造了基础条件。我国的公安高等教育与警察培训是相互支撑、相互促进、协调发展的关系,二者并存是中国特色的公安教育。     

Rural party rectification in China in the 1990s: Rectification or reification?

In 1991 and 1994, the Chinese central leadership launched two party campaigns directed, in particular, at the party branches in the countryside. As these two campaigns were lacking in ‘metaphysical imperative’ (Jowitt, 1983:286), and one came at the heels of the other, they failed to achieve the stated targets. Peasant solidarity is another factor that complicates the matter. Both cadres and peasants virtually ignored the call of the campaigns, and went their own way as before.     

Touching stones to cross the river: Evolving telecommunication policy priorities in contemporary China

This article, drawing on fieldwork in China, charts the ascendancy of Lian Tong (China Unicom), the first competitor to the incumbent Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Commencing with an historical overview of Chinese telecommunications, it suggests that Lian Tong's formation has been contingent upon support from key constituencies within China's political elite. The company's emergence mirrors technological trends and user pressure evident globally. It embodies the drive towards market liberalisation now evident within the Peoples’ Republic. While the Chinese policy community is sensible of the need to make haste slowly toward the goal of telecommunications competition — ‘touching stones to cross the river’ in the contemporary aphorism — the success of this ‘policy experiment’ depends both on the subtleties of Chinese politics and the construction of bold new regulatory frameworks. Lian Tong's genesis is symbolic of developments in the telecommunications sector, and maybe also more generally in the Chinese economy.     

The Evolution of China's Nonproliferation Policy since the 1990s: Progress,problems, and prospects

This article offers an overview of China's evolving nonproliferation policy over the past decade. It documents the key developments during this period and identifies both the internal and external factors that have brought about significant change in Chinese policy. It argues that China's growing recognition of the threats posed by WMD proliferation, image concerns, its interest in maintaining stable Sino-US relations, and the US policy initiatives aimed at influencing Chinese behavior are largely accountable for Beijing's gradual acceptance of nonproliferation norms, pledges to adhere to selected multilateral export control guidelines, and the introduction of domestic export control regulations. It suggests that the future direction of China's nonproliferation policy to a large extent will depend on how Beijing and Washington manage their increasing differences over missile defenses and the Taiwan issue.     

China's human rights development in the 1990s

The literature on human rights in China is dominated by incriminating documentation of abuses and a lack of theoretical consensus. But China's continuing economic reform has meant the need for Western industrialized countries to adjust their human rights policies on China. Emerging is the shift from the “sanction/isolation” approach to what some would call “positive engagement,” which is aimed at improving China's human rights situation through more international contact. In China, human rights development in the early 1990s can be characterized by the increasing use of Chinese law, and within that legal limit, a more open exercise of dissent and free speech as a basic human right, together with its adverse consequences.     

Going 'Back' and Staying 'Out': Articulating the postcolonial Hong Kong subjects in the development of China

In examining the Hong Kongers' participation in the social development of China, I suggest that China-development provides an important local site for the study of Chinese postcoloniality. Not only does it disclose the multiple and contradicting effects of colonial power, it also embodies the conflicting visions of modern China between the official Grand Narrative of modern Chinese nationhood and the local narratives of modern Chineseness. It became a site that created discursive possibilities for individual Hong Kongers to negotiate their ambivalent identification with and resistance to China. In this paper, I show how Hong Kongers were constructed as 'free subjects' under the British colonial discourse of liberalism which in turn shaped the Hong Kong discourse of China-development. Circulating in China-development was the image of China as the oppressive and corrupt 'inside' and Hong Kong as a free 'outside' space of accountability and equality of opportunities. Vacillating between East and West, Hong Kongers came to represent themselves as modern Chinese towards which they worked to develop their mainland compatriots.     

Interest Group Politics in Macau after Handover

After the handover of sovereignty in 1999 and the exit of the Portuguese administration, pro-Beijing and pro-government interest groups formed by local Chinese dominated Macau's political landscape. The major interest groups may be classified into three clusters: business organizations, labour unions, and neighbourhood groups. This paper examines the significance of interest groups in the enclave's politics and argues that their political power was from extensive grassroots support they received as well as Beijing's united front policies, the government's co-optation strategy, and the quasi-democratic political system. These interest groups also replaced the governor and under-secretaries to become the core of the patron-client networks in the political arena. This paper contends that the changing socio-economic environment, along with the advent of foreign casino investors, will gradually turn social support away from the interest groups and undercut their political influence. Balancing their pro-government stance and their role as representatives of their constituencies will therefore become increasingly difficult.     

Law and Labor in Post-Mao China

This paper examines the impact of labor legislation on Chinese workers. Primarily based on the author's field studies, especially interviews with workers and investigations of some labor lawsuits, the paper argues that labor legislation had a positive effect on workers—providing them with a useful weapon for self-protection. Workers gradually developed the awareness of the rule of law and the willingness to use legal means in handling their disputes with management and, in so doing, they often succeeded. On the other hand, however, the legal weapon proved too heavy for ordinary workers to wield—they had to encounter enormous and often insurmountable barriers in lodging and winning lawsuits. Despite various problems with the legal system, it is justifiable to say that the elements of the rule of law were emergent in the area of labor.     

Discussion of 'China: A responsible great power'

Professor Xia seeks to answer the question of whether or not China will become a 'responsible great power' in the twenty-first century by examining the domestic and foreign factors which will influence that outcome in the decades ahead. Some of the most interesting and useful insights of his work come as much from what the paper does not say as from what it does say. While it does not expressly say so, this paper amply demonstrates two important points about what appears to be an idealistic Chinese worldview. First, we see how the Chinese worldview is 'conflicted' and uncertain. Second, we see how China's current and future situation are said to be determined by what others do to China. Four important policy-related ramifications result from the worldview described in Xia Liping's paper. First, the more Chinese foreign policy promotes a worldview packaged largely in ideals, the more outsiders will suspect that Chinese leaders are trying to hide their actual intentions. Second, it should be recognized that in many ways the views espoused in the paper fundamentally call into question certain principles which others view as critical to their national security (the stabilizing nature of alliances, for example). Third, the worldviews described by Xia Liping portray a largely inward-looking, self-absorbed, vulnerable and aggrieved power that may be prone to 'irresponsibility'. The paper implies that under such circumstances, it is up to the outside world to prevent China from acting on its sense of injured vulnerability. Finally, such an approach to the world may leave the impression that Chinese views are out of touch or unable to operate effectively within the current global structure. Such an impression might lead others to dismiss or discount Chinese points of view as simplistic at best or consciously obstructionist at worst. Either way limits Chinese aspirations to become a 'responsible great power'. In the end, a nuanced and realistic set of understandings about the world, which articulates not only the country's ideals, but acknowledges its contradictions, interests, contributions, and its regional and international impact, would more pragmatically support China's ascendance to responsible great power status.     

Chinese Perceptions of US Return to Southeast Asia and the Prospect of China's Peaceful Rise

This article systematically examines the perceptual dimension of US–China–ASEAN relations. It specifically focuses on Chinese perceptions of American intentions in Southeast Asia, Chinese perceptions of the impact on China of the US's return to Southeast Asia, and suggestions of the Chinese scholarly community as to how China should respond to the US's return. Chinese scholars believe that the US returns to Southeast Asia for a variety of reasons and one of the most important is to manage the rise of China, and that the US's return has both positive and negative impacts on China's interests and the negative impact outweighs the positive. Overall, Chinese perceptions of the US return, especially Chinese scholars’ suggested response, indicate that Chinese scholars have internalized the strategy of peaceful rise which would give us added confidence that China is seriously committed to this strategy. If both the US and China stick to their relevant commitments, the rise of China, unlike that of most great powers in the past, would quite likely be peaceful.     

Bridging the Gap? An investigation of Beijing intellectual house church activities and their implications for China's democratization

This article investigates the link between Christian belief and the fight for political change in today's China focusing on the activities of certain Beijing house churches. It formulates the hypothesis that Chinese Christian intellectuals may be able to fulfil a special ‘bridge-function’ in Chinese society. This hypothesis is tested against evidence based on a close reading of two Beijing house church publications (Aiyan and Fangzhou) and interviews with intellectuals closely associated with these as well as ‘ordinary’ Christian intellectuals. Areas investigated include education, urban–rural co-operation, the demographic make-up of congregations, the Christian understanding of liberalism, and the activities of Chinese Christian human rights attorneys. It comes to the conclusion that while Christian intellectuals have great potential to play an important role in China's process of democratization, their most prominent members continue the splittist tradition of previous dissident groups while the more meaningful work is undertaken by unknown Christians away from the spotlight.     

China's Socialization in the International Human Rights Regime: why did China reject the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court?

This article uses a hard law—the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court—to examine the depth of China's socialization in the international human rights regime and the relative weights of sovereignty and human rights norms in determining China's policy choices. It shows that the reasons for China's rejection of the Rome Statute are twofold. On the one hand, Chinese leaders have not fully internalized human rights norms, and they prioritize state sovereignty over human rights when making decisions. On the other hand, the legalized Rome Statute sets up an independent court with mandatory jurisdiction and grants the Prosecutor the ex officio right to investigate a crime. Such treaty provisions may have negative impacts on China's core sovereignty of territorial integration and regime security, thus imposing high sovereignty costs on China. Therefore, China resolutely voted against the Rome Statute, even if such an action made it a small minority outside the international mainstream. These findings indicate that China is still in a weak socialization stage and is not able to take on binding human rights and humanitarian obligations with high sovereignty costs.     

伊斯兰法中国本土化与回族伊斯兰习惯法的形成

伊斯兰法作为一种外来的法律制度,具有充分的文化属性,它在中国境内的发生、成长过程其实就是一种典型的法律本土化过程,而且这种过程是伴随着伊斯兰教的中国本土化实现的。它是回族在信仰伊斯兰教过程中,以《古兰经》和《圣训》为主要内容的伊斯兰教法运用“公议”和“类比”推导出来的法律论断,固化为本民族的生活制度(即习惯)后,通过民间宗教权威予以保障,所形成的一整套内控性的生活秩序规范体系。     

The Rule of Law as Transition to Democracy in China

This paper assesses Pan Wei's proposal for a 'consultative rule of law system' for China, finding it a potentially important step along the path of political reform. China urgently needs political reform to deal with the rapidly mounting problems of corruption, abuse of power, financial scandals, rising crime and inequality, and declining legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party. A rule of law, with an independent judiciary and other autonomous institutions of horizontal accountability, is vital if China is to rein in these problems and deliver better, fairer, more transparent and effective governance. However, Pan Wei's proposed system goes only part of the way toward addressing the deficiencies of governance in China, and is therefore best viewed as a transitional framework. To work, horizontal accountability must be supplemented with and reinforced by vertical account ability, through competitive elections, which give local officials an incentive to serve the public good and enable bad officials to be removed by the people. Ultimately, I argue, China can only achieve adequate and enduring political accountability by moving toward democracy. Among the other issues addressed in the paper are the architecture and appointment of a system of horizontal accountability for China; the role of the Communist Party (or its successor hegemon) in a 'rule of law' system; and the timing and phasing of the transition to a rule of law.     

Reconstituting the Rural‐Urban Divide: Peasant migration and the rise of 'orderly migration' in contemporary China

The dramatic rise in China's rural-to-urban migration in recent years represents a sharp contrast to earlier decades when population movement was limited due to strict government control. This paper first traces the historical institutional conditions that prevented large-scale rural-to-urban migration in the 1960s and 1970s. It focuses on three interlocking mechanisms of control: urban employment policy; food rationing; and household registration, and explains the rationale behind these policies and their evolution into a system inhibiting peasant migration. It then analyzes the decline of these old institutions during the reform. The breakdown of these institutions, however, does not warrant the conclusion that the Chinese state has been sidelined in the migration process. By way of examining the rise of 'orderly migration' in recent years, the author shows that the Chinese state is deeply involved in the migration process. The author argues that 'orderly migration' represents an attempt by the state to reconstitute the historic rural‐urban divide in a new setting.