Shenzhen Tightens Limits on Petitioner Activity

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 000689 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM and DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI PHUM CH SUBJECT: Shenzhen Tightens Limits on Petitioner Activity GUANGZHOU 00000689 001.2 OF 003 This report is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (U) Summary: The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, Procuratorate (prosecutor's office),Public Security Bureau and Judicial Bureau in November jointly issued a "Notice on Dealing with Abnormal Petition Behaviors in Accordance with the Law" and defined 14 behaviors as "abnormal petition behaviors." Seven of the 14 limitations (listed in final para) are new additions to preexisting national-level restrictions. The new policy says that repeat offenders may be punishable by the extrajudicial reeducation through labor (laojiao) system. The document has sparked wide controversy, causing some on the Internet to question whether Shenzhen authorities have overstepped their limits while official contacts say the new restrictions, along with better public service at the local level, will promote social harmony. Post's initial analysis follows in para 2. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Comment: Shenzhen's expanded list of prohibited petitioner activities might be the stick to a new carrot; the city claims that a newly inaugurated petition hall will serve as a one-stop-shop for petitioners. The Shenzhen Government likely hopes to avoid the embarrassment of petitioners pleading their case in the provincial capital Guangzhou or Beijing by providing better services in Shenzhen. To the extent that local remedies still leave petitioners dissatisfied, though, it is unlikely that either the new petition center or the new restrictions will stem the flow of petitioners seeking assistance from higher-level authorities elsewhere. Post will monitor whether the new rules are honored, ignored or enforced, reporting accordingly. Having the rules on the books makes enforcement easier later on, should that be necessary. It's unclear whether this is strictly a local initiative or part of a centrally driven trial balloon. End comment. From Six to Fourteen -------------- ¶3. (U) The Regulations on Petitions at the national level forbid six petitioner behaviors, but the Shenzhen Notice released in early November has expanded the forbidden behaviors to 14. (Note: The Shenzhen list actually only adds seven new restrictions; one of the original six has been split in two. See paragraph eight for a complete list. End note.) The Shenzhen Notice says that repeat offenders will be punishable by reeducation through labor, an extralegal system of imprisonment and work that skirts the conventional legal system. Dear Petitioner, Please Consider a Staycation -------------- -------------- ¶4. (U) Hong Kong-based newspaper Ming Pao reported early December that Shenzhen Party Secretary Liu Yupu visited Shenzhen's Yantian District Petition Hall and ordered that a glass wall separating petitioners from petition office staff be dismantled. Liu reportedly encouraged petition office staff to enhance their sense of service and devote themselves to resolving petitioners' difficulties. The newspaper commented that Liu's visit and statements were meant to mitigate negative public opinion following publication of the new regulations. ¶5. (U) Similarly, the Shenzhen Government inaugurated the city's new Petition Hall November 19. In all, 16 government agencies, including the Land Resources and Housing Bureau, Population and Family Planning Office, Communications Bureau, Education Bureau and the Public Security Bureau, will have their representatives stationed at the hall to deal with petitioners. Staff of the Supervision Bureau and Judicial Bureau will also be present in the hall to supervise the petition process, according to official media reports. In the past, said a spokesman with the Shenzhen municipal government, petitioners had to visit various government departments to make petitions, but the new petition hall will provide "one stop" service to petitioners. The spokesman also said that each petition case would receive prompt processing and that petitioners would receive official replies to their queries. Netizens Speak Out -------------- GUANGZHOU 00000689 002.2 OF 003 ¶6. (U) Online discussion of Shenzhen's new petition guidelines largely has had a negative tone. Netizens have noted that the new guidelines set increased restrictions on common citizens but do not define acceptable behavior by government entities. Numerous netizens rhetorically asked what petitioners should do when their petitions fall on deaf ears, and one writer suggested that the regulations were "aimed at blocking the last remaining channel through which justice might be sought." Several writers implied that Shenzhen officials had overstepped their authority by issuing restrictions more stringent than national-level law. The Party Line: This is better. Trust us. -------------- ¶7. (SBU) According to Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences' Scientific Research Department Director Liang Jun, the new regulations reflect the Chinese Government's desire to resolve petition cases locally. Jun said that Chinese tend to believe that it will be easier to coax the government into settling a dispute if the case is made to look serious enough. Therefore, said Jun, many petitioners decide to travel to the capital city of their province or to Beijing to get attention from higher-level governments. Jun characterized this custom as "chaos" and said that the preference was to resolve disputes locally whenever possible. Prohibited Petitioner Behavior -------------- ¶8. (U) Of the 14 "abnormal petition behaviors," the first seven are Regulations on Petitions at the national level and the final seven constitute Shenzhen's new restrictions: -- Gathering or occupying petition offices; leaving aged people, sick people, handicapped people, infants or other disabled people at petition offices. -- Gathering at office buildings of the party committee or at the Citizens Center, or the neighboring areas, or exhibition halls during major events, to block the entrance and exit of the above-mentioned places, and other behaviors disrupting public order. -- Stopping or forcibly entering into vehicles with the goal of obstructing or blocking traffic. -- Carrying guns, gun powder, explosives or inflammable or radioactive items during petitions. -- Insulting or attacking civil servants or threatening killings, kidnappings, arson, etc. -- Instigating or organizing mass petitions or enticing others to join mass petitions by offering money. -- Performing any other behaviors that disrupt public order or jeopardize public or national security. Shenzhen's additions follow: -- Petitioning at politically-sensitive venues such as Zhongnanhai, Tiananmen, Xinhuamen, embassies and consulates, or other venues not approved by the Regulations on Petitions. -- Shouting slogans, holding up banners or wearing "petition clothes;" distributing petition letters to pedestrians. -- Obstructing or disturbing normal production or the operation of enterprises or schools using petitioning as an excuse. -- Attempting self-injury, suicide, floor-jumping, or threatening to spread infectious diseases such as AIDS; placing dead bodies or funerary caskets in public places so as to arouse public panic. -- Preventing civil servants from performing their duties; breaking through police cordons. -- Fabricating or distorting facts in order to defame other people. GUANGZHOU 00000689 003.2 OF 003 -- Intentionally vandalizing public property while petitioning. GOLDBECK