Transcript SECTION C—International Issues STUDY THEME 3B: THE PEOPLE

SECTION C—International Issues
STUDY THEME 3B: THE PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA
2_Political Issues, reform and impact
CONNECT: Uncover, can you guess what this is?
You need to give an accurate fact about China to uncover a brick…
Learning Intentions:
• Will be able to give examples of political opposition in China
• Will understand and be able to give specific examples of legal and illegal
parties
• Will be able to describe in detail examples of issues protests
• Be able to describe what the government’s response to opposition has been
• Understand what changes in response to opposition there have there been
• Be able to identify specific examples of balancing points, to show that the
government has demonstrated some positive changes.
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
President – Xi Jinping
The real influence lies within the Standing Committee of the NPC which has
around 150 members and meets every 2 months. Has power to make laws
and change the Constitution. Majority of members are senior members of the
Party. They also elect the President and the members of the State Council and
the Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission.
State Council – Responsible for implementing Party Policy. Has 50 members
made up of the Vice Premiers, State Councillors and the Heads of ministries.
Draws up national economic plans and budgets. Meets once a month, but a
more important Standing Committee of the Council meets twice a week.
National People’s Congress – Meets once a year and has 3000 delegates. Is
China’s parliament, but in reality rubber stamps decisions made higher up.
Local People’s Congress – Elect National People’s Congress
Voters – Elect Local People’s Congress
Districts – 2,461 have a strong role in the administration of China. Each
province is split into districts which have their level of the CPC.
Create a flow chart to demonstrate the flow of power within the
Government Structure.
Executive Branch
Legislative Branch
Judicial Branch
President, Xi Jinping
National People’s Congress Supreme People’s Court
Vice President, Li
Yuanchao
2,979 members
Both elected in 2013 by
the National People’s
Congress for five years.
Elected by municipal,
regional and provincial
People’s Congresses for 5
year terms.
Judges appointed by the
People’s Congress
PARTY STRUCTURE
1.
2.
3.
4.
General Secretary, Xi Jinping.
Standing Committee – 7 members who are leaders of the CPC.
Politburo – 25 members who oversee the running of the CPC.
Central Committee – 300, includes the leaders of the party, state and
army.
5. National Congress of the CPC – Meets every 5 years and rubber stamps
decisions taken higher up.
6. Provincial Party Congress – Runs the party in 23 provinces of the country,
5 autonomous regions and 4 municipalities.
7. District Organisation – Each province is split into districts which have
party links.
8. City and Town – Have links to the party.
9. Party sections in the workplace – represented in every workplace
10. Party members – around 80 million out of about 1.3bn.
Looking at the structure, how does the Party Structure minimise the risk of dissent?
What do these facts suggest about political freedom in China?
Legal Parties in China
The CPC dominates every aspect of the structure of government in
China. Its organisation is very similar to the organisation of the
Government. Every major post is filled by members of the CPC and
they decide who gets all the important jobs in government.
There are 8 other parties in China called ‘democratic parties, but
they are very much under the control of the CPC. There have also
been moves to contest elections in small towns and villages, but the
party still has effective control over government appointments.
These 8 parties report to the United Front Department of the CPC,
share the CPC’s aims and rely on its support to get their members
into positions of power. No other parties are allowed to operate
legally and there is a highly effective state security apparatus to deal
with organised dissent.
Legal Opposition
CPC (Communist Party of China, sometimes known as the Nearly 80 million members. The founding and main ruling
CCP)
party.
China Democratic League
214,000 members, mainly middle class, socialist
intellectuals. The Party provides a ‘third way’ between the
Nationalists and the Communists.
China Democratic National Construction Association
90,000 members, mainly entrepreneurs in the commercial
and industrial industries who are Market Socialists.
Chinese Revolutionary Committee of the Koumintang
80,000 members, mainly left-wing Chinese Nationalist. It
is seen by the CPC as the ‘second best’ political party in
China.
The Jiusan Society
80,000 members. Mostly Socialist high level intellectuals
in the field of science, technology and medicine.
65,000 members who are mainly intellectuals striving for a
Social Democracy.
65,000 members, mainly workers from public health,
culture, education, science and technology.
20,000 members from a Socialist background. In 2007
Wan Gang, Deputy Chair of the Zhi Gong Party Central
Committee was appointed Technology Minister of the
People’s Republic of China. This was the first nonCommunist Party ministerial appointment in China since
the 1950s.
China Association for Promoting Democracy
Chinese Peasant’s and Workers’ Democratic Party
Zhi Gong Dang of China
Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League
1600 members, mainly Taiwanese Communists who now
reside in mainland China.
Summary notes:
1. What is the purpose behind allowing legal
parties?
2. What is the United Front Department responsible
for?
3. Give two examples of legal parties in China?
4. Explain what the term ‘organised dissent’ means.
5. Thinking in the context of providing balance in an
exam question what evidence could you identify
that there have been positive moves towards
political freedom in China?
POLITICAL DISSIDENTS
Political dissidents are people who have publicly criticised the government
and are then labelled as a threat to the state. These brave individuals are
then often persecuted by the state. Due to China’s strict interpretation of
free speech there are a lot of political dissidents in China. The government
does not allow criticism of the political system or the government; however
it does allow some criticism and protest regarding individual incidents.
Historically the suppression of the democracy protestors in Tiananmen
Square in 1989 is a vivid and brutal example of the force the Chinese state is
willing to exert to maintain control. Despite the fact that the Chinese
government has come a long way since 1989 there are still restrictions on
speech and protest, even regarding the history of the Tiananmen Square
protest.
Video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3775463.stm
DING ZILIN: Activist, presumed house arrest
Ding Zilin's teenage son was shot in the back by
soldiers during the 1989 Tiananmen Square
protests.
Along with other bereaved parents, she formed a
group called the Tiananmen Mothers, which has
spent the past two decades pushing for a full
account of what happened that night in Beijing.
The former philosophy professor and her husband
are believed to be under house arrest.
Video: Interview with Ding Zilin
2014 - What is happening in the run up to the 25th
Anniversary?
Charter 08
A small group of activists continue to call for political and legal reforms in China, despite the tight control of the
Communist Party. Liu Xiaobo, 54, was a key leader in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
In 2010 he received an 11-year sentence for "inciting subversion" after drafting Charter 08 - which called for
multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in China. Announcing the Nobel Peace Prize in October,
the Nobel committee described Mr Liu as "the foremost symbol" of the human rights struggle in China. His
wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since the award was announced, and friends and supporters have
been prevented from leaving China.
What is happening in 2014?
Further Reading
Prepare for Mastermind. The topic Chinese dissidents is going
to be your specialist subject.
You have 15 minutes to either prepare questions or study up.
Mastermind
ILLEGAL POLITICAL PARTIES IN CHINA
China Democracy Party
Just days after completing a 12-year jail term for subversion, Qin Yongmin vowed to
advance human rights and democracy in China. Mr Qin was sentenced to prison in
1998 after he and other activists tried to officially register the China Democracy
Party.
Previously, Mr Qin was jailed from 1981-1989 as a "counter-revolutionary" following
China's "democracy wall" period of political openness. In 1993, he was sentenced
to two years in a labour camp for drafting the "Peace Charter," a manifesto that
called for a re-evaluation of the 1989 Tiananmen protests and the release of
political prisoners. "As a democrat, this is my life. One day, the China Democracy
Party will be legal in China, but this will take time," he said in a phone interview
with AFP from his home in Wuhan.
Create a factfile for the China Democracy Party
Environment – Single Issue Protests
Protests against pollution have multiplied in China as people become
better informed and more concerned about the heavy ecological cost
of economic development. Even state media now stresses the
environment is a priority for China.
Young people use micro-blogging to pass on the word. "People
understand that the fight against pollution is a personal right, for there
are very few places in the world where industrialisation has had such a
massive and direct impact on such a large number of people," said
environmental activist Ma Jun.
Earlier this summer there were student-led protests against a copper
alloy plant in Shifang, central Sichuan province. The local authorities
quickly scrapped the project. In August 2011 a similar protest broke out
in the industrial port of Dalian in the north-east, which mobilised
12,000 people. The authorities gave way there too.
Further Reading: Guardian, Toxic Air Pollution Causing Nuclear Winter
According to Yang Guobin, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania
who researches environmental activism, the government's response was
typical of the Chinese leadership in President Hu Jintao's era. "The
government's response is typical of their 'wei wen' approach [the policy
of maintaining stability at all costs] and stopping any widescale
demonstrations, by force if necessary. But should state coercion fail, the
government will immediately make some concessions to prevent the
movement from escalating. In all cases, it acts fast," summed up Yang.
There have been reforms to tackle social problems arising from dramatic
economic development. There has been a total ban on leaded petrol for
cars and as we can see from above the closure/fining of factories who are
polluting. The government has introduced some very tough environmental
laws, but having difficulty enforcing it. There has been social pressure,
naming and shaming companies involved. China currently has the highest
emissions of Sulphur Dioxide and a quarter of the country endures acid
rain. To give some idea of the dramatic speed of environmental impact in
1985 China had one skyscraper, now 3,000 buildings of 18 stories or higher.
What evidence is there of the government allowing some protests and
responding positively?
Constitution: Rights (Positive)
Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution guarantees Chinese citizens "freedom of
speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of
demonstration," the PRC has limited these freedoms on several occasions.
For example, on October 25, 1998, China's State Council enforced two sets of
regulations, one entitled Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social
Groups, and the other, Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Management
of People-Organized Non-Enterprise Units.
So in reality…
(1) the number of legal requirements and time necessary for establishing a social
group were increased;
(2) Chinese authorities were allowed to forbid the registration of selected groups;
(3) the involvement of people in social groups who have had their political rights
removed was forbidden;
(4) the controls that can be placed on groups by their "official government
sponsors" were increased; and
(5) government funding provided for new groups was limited.
It should be noted that even prior to the implementation of the new set of
regulations, Chinese law required all independent groups to register with the
Chinese government. These regulations result in the PRC denying its citizens their
right to association and allow the government to detain its citizens in the Laogai
under unconstitutional terms.
(The Laogai System: China’s vast system of prisons and detention facilities in which
inmates are forced to labour and endure Communist Party political indoctrination.)
Further Reading: Laogai
Reform
• Indefinite sentences of ‘reform through labour have been abolished
• The name Laogai was replaced with prisons
• Claim to have ended the system 2013
2004 Amendments (Reform)
The Constitution was amended on March 14, 2004 to include guarantees regarding
private property ("legally obtained private property of the citizens shall not be
violated,") and human rights ("the State respects and protects human rights.")
This was argued by the government to be progress for Chinese democracy and a sign
from Communist Party of China that they recognised the need for change, because
the booming Chinese economy had created a new class of rich and middle class,
who wanted protection of their own property.
There is no special organization tasked with the enforcement of the Chinese
constitution. Although in the constitution it stipulates that the National People's
Congress and its Standing Committee have the power to review whether laws or
activities violate the constitution.
Reflect: Make a list of Limitations on
freedoms and improvements or
positive signs, link them together