Chinese Parliament gets more powers

Ulhas Joglekar ulhasj at bom4.vsnl.net.in
Fri Mar 17 07:34:21 PST 2000


Thursday 16 March 2000

Chinese Parliament gets more powers By Jeremy Page BEIJING: China passed a new law on legislation Wednesday that analysts say could significantly expand the powers of the National People's Congress -- or Parliament -- and its chairman Li Peng. The new law was designed to sweep clean a minefield of arbitrary local regulations by obliging regional governments to register all legislation with the NPC, lawmakers and analysts said. The NPC Standing Committee, under Li's leadership, would then have the power to change or nullify any rules it deemed unconstitutional or contradictory to existing legislation. While the move effectively writes into law the NPC's existing constitutional powers, analysts said it represented a significant step in boosting the parliament's status and jurisdiction. ``It normalizes and makes explicit in law important procedural practices that are necessary to make the NPC a more significant legislative institution,'' said one Western diplomat. But others said the law could be used to stifle grass-roots democracy and boost the power of Li, who is widely viewed as a hard-liner due to his commanding role in a bloody crackdown on student protesters around Tiananmen Square in 1989. Li, a former premier, is China's second most powerful leader. The largely rubber-stamp NPC passed the law with a 91 percent majority on the final day of parliament's annual session. ``There have arisen some problems in the process of legislation,'' said Qiao Xiaoyang, vice chairman of the NPC Legislative Affairs Commission. ``There is over-stepping of authority, there is conflicting legislation and there are contradictions between different laws. All of these have undermined the unity of the legal system and also caused problems to law enforcement.'' Previously, local governments were able to pass regulations as long as they did not contradict the constitution in principle. They were not obliged to register them with the NPC. As a result, local legislators enjoyed growing freedom in recent years to introduce regulations suited to local conditions without worrying whether they conflicted with national laws. ``My concern is that trying to limit the areas of the lower level for promulgating laws could be a move to stifle the development of local democracy,'' said one Western diplomat. ``There could be a fear among conservative elements in China that the local level assemblies are engaging in democratic measures which threaten the unitary leadership of central authorities under the Communist Party.'' While the law states clearly it applies to the State Council, or cabinet, and local assemblies, it covers neither the army nor the Communist Party. Li Peng stressed in a speech to the NPC last week that the parliament must follow the leadership of the Communist Party, dashing any hopes the legislature might become more independent. ``Li Peng wants to make a very clear message that, one, he's still a major player, two, he's going to hang around in the NPC for a second term and three, the Party remains in control and there'll be no separation of powers,'' said another diplomat. Neither Li nor Qiao said how many NPC staff or resources would be allocated to enforcing the new law. However, analysts said they were encouraged by aspects of the law which provided for more consultation in the drafting process. Under the law, which takes effect on July 1, the NPC would hold workshops, seminars and public hearings on draft legislation, and all bills would have to pass through three review sessions before becoming law, instead of two. ``You should give the devil his due,'' said a third Western diplomat of Li. ``This is clearly an effort to try to increase the seriousness of the review process.'' But a recent crackdown on the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement illustrated that the NPC was a long way from shedding its rubber-stamp image, analysts said. ``The suppression of Falun Gong was clearly not consistent with constitutional principles. They just decided they had to get rid of these people and then came up with the justification,'' said the third diplomat. ``It's rule by law as opposed to rule of law.''(Reuters) For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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