Journal of Contemporary China

Pan, Wei

doi: 10.1080/10670560305465pmid: N/A

Why has China not embraced democracy? This essay provides a three-part explanation. (1) By discussing the conceptual and functional differences between democracy and rule of law, it shows a theoretical alternative for China's political option, which is legalist instead of democratic. (2) By reviewing China' particular social setting and the related political culture, it argues that China's tendency towards the assumed alternative is strong, historical, and logical. (3) Inspired by the experiments of Hong Kong and Singaore polities, it specifies six pillars of the assumed political alternative--a'consultative rule of law regime', which is a rule of law regime supplemented by democracy rather than a democracy supplemented by rule of law. This essay ends with a brief discussion of the feasibility of the suggested regime, with regard to the conditions of current Chinese politics. Therefore, this essay is not only an explanation of China's failure to become democratic, but also a normative justification for a 'mixed' regime out of the Chinese tradition of civil service via examination and the Western tradition of legalism and liberalism via the separation of power to form checks and balances. It represents a Chinese ideal of a political civilization that is radically different from the one usually favored in the present Western world.

Peerenboom, Randall

doi: 10.1080/10670560305468pmid: N/A

While agreeing that rule of law without democracy is the most likely path to political reform in the short term, I suggest that in the long run democracy will be necessary to solve some of the divisive social issues that have arisen in China as a result of economic reforms and social changes. I also suggest that Pan's understanding of rule of law is overly simplistic and that his faith in the miraculous power of rule of law to put an end to corruption, resolve pluralistic conflicts and produce a just and harmonious society is wildly exaggerated. Finally, I expand the scope of Pan's proposal to explore various possible administrative law reforms and legal reforms more generally required to realize rule of law in China, while suggesting that ultimately their success turns on issues of power that exceed the limits of the law.

Zhang, Qianfan

doi: 10.1080/10670560305466pmid: N/A

For a long time the Chinese courts were beset by the lack of impartiality and autonomy owning to the heavy political influence exerted by the ruling party, the shortage of well trained judicial personnel and, more generally, the absence of social respect for the traditionally insignificant judicial branch in a primarily administrative state. Thus the existing judicial system is woefully inadequate for sustaining a market economy, as it fails to meet the Weberian conditions for a politically neutral legal system that uniformly enforces the economic relationship forged in market transactions. The uniform administra tion of justice is further jeopardized in China by the enormous diversity of local conditions and interests typical to a developing state, and by the intimate relations between the courts and local political branches. The necessity of reforming the current court system hardly need any argument, yet how to reform it--especially in a politically feasible manner--is by no means clear. Divided into four parts, this paper is essentially an analysis of the current judicial problems in China and their proposed solutions. First, it presents a preliminary theoretical model for analyzing a judicial system. Next, it categorizes the problems that constitute the 'judicial syndrome' in China. It then outlines solutions that have been put forward to cure the syndrome. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the likelihood that these solutions will actually work.

Friedman, Edward

doi: 10.1080/10670560305459pmid: N/A

Agreeing with Professor Pan Wei that maintaining stability in China and preventing war between China and the United States are at least as important as the democratization of China, this article considers the experiences of Russia, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong for clues as to whether China can control corruption and continue the economic reform process without significant political reform, concluding that gradual democratization is the best way to maintain stability, prevent war, check corruption and promote further economic reform.

Chao, Chien-Min

doi: 10.1080/10670560305460pmid: N/A

Chen Shui-bian has been lauded for his moderation in handling cross-Strait relations but reviled for his vacillation. The most evident case of Chen's unsteadiness is the President's position on the issue of 'one China'. He has been running the gamut from 'future China' to the latest 'accepting one China is equivalent to the end of the ROC'. This lack of consistency can be explained by factional politicking within the DPP. Since the DPP was created in 1986, it has been quite evident that the party has been polarized into two major factions, the Formosa faction and the New Tide faction. The radical wing got the upper-hand as the overseas independence advocates started to flow back at the beginning of the 1990s. A few years later, the party started to change on its stand on Taiwan independence. The humiliating defeat of the DPP candidate Peng Ming-min in the 1996 presidential election prompted further transition. In the meantime, the weakening of the moderate wing in the DPP put Chen in a very difficult position. The party's leadership on the left had constantly warned their followers of self-destruction should the principle of 'one China' be accepted.

Copper, John F.

doi: 10.1080/10670560305462pmid: N/A

In March 2000 when Chen Shui-bian was elected president his supporters were elated and optimistic about Taiwan having truly attained democracy. Many scholars also saw the event as significant, marking the consolidation of Taiwan's democratization effort. Soon, however, many became disappointed. Cynicism grew. Opinion polls showed declining support for the President, the legislature, political parties and politics in general. Even democracy was questioned. The causes for this were: (1) Taiwan's mixed political system, which was not ready for the opposition to become the ruling party; (2) Taiwan's style of democracy was copied from America's, in some way wrongly. This made it a system that did not fit an Asian country and allowed for ethnic politics and some other undesirable aspects of democracy to evolve; (3) the Chen Administration ignored the importance of economic development. When the economy deteriorated he sought other ways to remain in power; this further led to a deterioration of politics and hurt the image of the government.

Tan, Alexander C.

doi: 10.1080/10670560305467pmid: N/A

One year after the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian as Taiwan's first non-KMT president, Taiwan's economy continues to experience problems. Though much of the economic problems cannot be blamed on the DPP Administration, it is saddled with finding a solution to this quagmire. This study examines some of the critical economic problems that the current administration faces and briefly assesses the prospects of the government's ability to undertake critical economic reforms in light of the pluralization of politics in Taiwan.

Smyth, Russell; Qingguo, Zhai

doi: 10.1080/10670560305461pmid: N/A

Through field trips and interviews, which took place in June and November 2000, this article discusses recent developments in the economic restructuring of five large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in one city in Liaoning. We found that most of the firms we interviewed have attempted to compete in the market and upgrade technologies. This is most apparent in attempts to separate the production and social welfare functions of the enterprise and related progress in the areas of housing, medical care and pension reform. However, we also found that the SOEs we interviewed are still heavily dependent on preferential government policies. In particular, several of the SOEs interviewed for this article appear to be primarily profitable due to government policy favors (debt-for-equity swaps, outright debt write-offs and subsidized loans).

Li, Ling-Hin

doi: 10.1080/10670560305464pmid: N/A

The past decade has witnessed a mass change in urban physical structure in major Chinese cities. Such changes could not have been realized without the implementation of economic reform in the urban land system. However, the economic reform measures undertaken in the urban land economy are only partial and gradual. The old socialist allocation system of land for both private and public land users still exists and in some cases such allocation exceeds the market system in terms of land granted. The pricing system of urban land is still not truly competitive as in most cases land users obtain land by means of private treaty grant with the relevant government department. Despite all these weakness in the economic reform measures, the land market in Shanghai, as well as other major cities, seems to have begun a rationalization process with less competitive land uses reallocated to the urban periphery, according to land economics principles. This paper tries to argue that under certain conditions, such as active market activities with open information on transaction details, such a partial economic reform programme could bring initial success to the authority, which will further speed up the gradual reform process.

Liang, Kan

doi: 10.1080/10670560305463pmid: N/A