Why do I think this will not work?
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has set up a mechanism of supervision based on admonishment as an intensified step to keep its officials upright, honest and incorruptible.
The General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued a notice Sunday calling for full implementation of the supervision and admonishment rules governing officials' honest and clean handling of the affairs, which was jointly worked out by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.
According to the supervisory rules, CPC officials who fail to strictly implement the political disciplines, carry out the Party's various policies and decisions as well as those who are arbitrary in work style or corrupt, will be admonished.
Reliance on internal supervisory mechanisms is the bane of the CCP. If the sad history of the CCP (Anti-Rightist Campaign, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Beijing Massacre of 1989, current upsurge in corruption and abuse of official position) has demonstrated anything, it is that the Party cannot be counted on to regulate itself. There needs to be some sort of external check on Party power. The threat of loss of power in a genuinely contested election would help, though that is not on the horizon.
What is most frustrating are the cases where, even when the Party manages to articulate a progressive-sounding law, it is followed with business-as-usual repression of well-meaning citizens. Here is a story of a man who was detained for reporting pollution, after the government had issued an order protecting people who report pollution.
Will they now admonish whoever was responsible for reporting the pollution?
And, by the way, if you are out of power and try to do the traditional thing by remonstrating or petitioning the government for redress of grievances, get ready for trouble:
(Hong Kong, December 8, 2005) — Thousands of citizens who petition Chinese authorities for the redress of grievances are attacked, beaten, threatened, and intimidated, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Activists and representatives trying to help petitioners are also beaten and arrested.
What would Mencius do?
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