SHANGHAI LEGAL EXPERTS ON LUO GAN SPEECH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 000155

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/16/2032
TAGS: PHUM PINR KJUS CH
SUBJECT: SHANGHAI LEGAL EXPERTS ON LUO GAN SPEECH

REF: BEIJING 1103

CLASSIFIED BY: Mary Tarnowka , Section Chief, Political/Economic
Section, U.S. Consulate Shanghai.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: Three of Shanghai legal experts said they were
not surprised by Politburo Standing Committee member Luo Gan's
abrasive rule of law speech published in a Party journal on
February 2 (reftel). In the speech, Luo talked about the need
to guard against "unfavorable" Western influences. The experts
said that Luo and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had always
had a conservative attitude towards judicial independence and
there was nothing new about the tone of the speech. They did
not foresee any changes to judicial independence and
international cooperation, since the CCP controlled the courts
and there was currently not a lot of judicial independence. Two
of the experts said the speech was actually an improvement since
it mentioned the importance of equality, justice and fair
criminal trials. One expert was less positive and noted that
Luo's comments indicated that the government intended to
maintain tight control over the legal system for the foreseeable
future. End Summary.

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Nothing New
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2. (SBU) CCP Politburo Standing Committee Member Luo Gan
delivered a speech on rule of law at a national conference on
November 27, 2006. The speech was published in the CCP Central
Committee's official journal, "Seeking Truth," on February 2.
While the speech focused on ways judicial organs (courts,
procuracy, and public security organs) could help in building a
"harmonious society," Luo also talked about the need to guard
against "unfavorable" influences from the West. (Reftel)


3. (C) FSN Rule of Law Coordinator (ROLC) met with China Civil
Litigation Society Vice President Zhang Wusheng and China Civil
Litigation Society Vice President Xie Youping in separate
meetings on February 13. Like legal experts in Beijing
(reftel),Zhang and Xie were not surprised by Luo's remarks on
the need to block the influence of "foreign forces" on China's
legal system. Zhang said Luo was known for his conservative
views and the speech's harsh tone was nothing new. Xie had a
similar view to Zhang and noted that the speech did not deviate
from the CCP's usual tone. Other Chinese leaders had made
similar comments. For example, Han Shubing, currently the
Chairman of the China Law Society and former President of the
Supreme People's Procuratorate, recently gave a speech that
called for being cautious towards foreign forces, which were
westernizing and dividing the country. While these types of
statements were nothing new to Chinese academics, Xie said it
was rare for them to be published in such a high-level magazine
as "Seeking Truth."

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No Change in Policy
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4. (C) Xie did not expect that the speech would have a negative
impact on judicial independence and international cooperation.
He said that the CCP already had a negative attitude towards
cooperation. In addition, there was not currently much judicial
independence, since the courts were completely controlled by the
CCP. China Constitutional Law Society Vice President Tong
Zhiwei had a similar view during a meeting with ROLC on February

16. Tong said he had read Luo's speech carefully and thought
that it was an attempt to apply President Hu Jintao's
"harmonious society" concept to the judicial system. He did not
foresee any policy changes, although slogans such as "harmonious
courts" and "harmonious police" would probably start appearing
throughout China soon. He also did not expect that there would
be any new policy to restrict international cooperation. He
noted, however, that there might be occasional incidents in
which cooperation was restricted. For example, Luo Gan used to
frequently visit a court in Chengde, Hebei province. When he
found out that Beijing University Professor and Rights
Protection movement (Wei Quan) activist He Weifang was scheduled
to give a lecture in that court, he ordered the court to cancel

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the lecture immediately. Tong thought similar cancellations
would likely occur again.


5. (C) Zhang noted that there were indications that Shanghai
officials had not yet received instructions from Beijing on the
speech. He said he recently discussed Luo's speech at an
internal meeting of the Shanghai Communist Party's
Political-Legal Committee. Local officials at the meeting were
reluctant to discuss the speech and immediately changed the
topic.

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Remarks on Widespread Dissatisfaction
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6. (C) According to Zhang, Luo admitted in the speech that there
was widespread dissatisfaction among the common people. Luo
said that in some districts, some people participated in mass
dispute matters such as demonstrations. These people did not
necessarily have any direct interest in the matters, but used
them as a chance to express their pent-up dissatisfaction. He
urged leaders to think deeply about these phenomena. Zhang said
that as far as he could recall, this was the first time that a
top leader admitted that there was widespread dissatisfaction in
such a public way. This implied that the Central Government had
realized the danger of the people's dissatisfaction and would
take measures to tackle this issue.


7. (C) According to Xie, the speech indicated that the Central
Government knew that there were wide-spread conflicts among
different levels of society in China. There was no quick way to
tackle this problem as the political system was the key cause of
the conflicts and the CCP was reluctant to implement political
reforms. Unless there was a change in the political system,
these conflicts would not be eased anytime soon.

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Positive Aspects
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8. (C) Zhang and Xie noted that the speech had a few positive
aspects. Zhang said that although the bulk of the speech was on
how to amplify President Hu's "harmonious society" concept, Luo
also emphasized the importance of equality and justice. Xie
noted that Luo also mentioned the need for fairness in criminal
trials and supported the balance between strictness and leniency
in trials. In addition, Luo mentioned criminal law reforms,
including bail. He saw this as a good sign that there might be
progress in criminal legal procedures.

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Continued Tight Control of Judiciary
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9. (C) Tong was not as positive about the speech as Zhang and
Xie. He noted that Luo said that there should be no people
outside of the government's management "net." He saw this as a
sign that the government would not lose its zeal to keep people
under its control anytime soon. For example, the government was
able to control lawyers and keep them obedient because all
lawyers were required to pass annual inspection by the local
judicial bureau to continue practicing. He believed that there
would little progress on judicial reforms in the near future.


10. (SBU) This message was coordinated with Embassy Beijing.
JARRETT