Is it time for the U.S. to move on from the blame game over
who did what on Covid-19, and get back to doing business with the Chinese
Communist Party, China’s Government, Chinese universities, business firms, and social
organizations?
Perhaps. But doing
business with China requires adherence to its rules. What are those rules in
practice? (See list below.) If you doubt them, apply for a visa to visit
China. On arrival, exercise your freedom
of speech criticizing Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party the same way
that are free to criticize Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the United
States. Watch what happens. If you are lucky, you’ll be deported. If not so lucky, you’ll be detained, perhaps
for an indefinite period of time, or worse.
If you are President of Harvard, you may be allowed to talk about academic
freedom to an audience of students and faculty at a leading Chinese university,
but you still better not criticize any aspect of Xi Jinping Thought.
Here is a list of no-no’s that constrains doing business with China
(and applies to your local Chinese employees):
No freedom of speech.
No freedom to dissent.
No freedom to criticize Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist
Party, and China’s government.
No academic freedom in the humanities and social sciences.
No freedom of the press.
No religious freedom.
No freedom of the people to peacefully assemble.
No freedom to petition the government for a redress of
grievances.
No security of persons in their houses and their papers and
effects.
No protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.
No “rule of law.”
No presumption of innocence.
No right to equal protection under the law.
No trial by an independent jury of one’s peers.
No protection against seizure of private property without
just compensation.
No protection from excessive fines, or cruel and unusual
punishment.
No practice of democracy, i.e., free and fair elections.
No freedom of travel by train or airplane without an acceptable
government-determined social credit score.
No protection from arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile.
No universal freedom to leave the country.
The individual freedoms that are summarily disregarded by China’s
leaders are enshrined in China’s Constitution.
But they are on paper, not in practice.
Chapter II of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of
China (2018 Edition) is titled “The Fundamental Rights And Duties Of Citizens.” They are stipulated in Articles 33 through
56.”
33. All citizens of
the PRC are equal before the law.
34. All citizens aged
18 and over have the right to vote and stand for election, unless deprived of
political rights according to law.
35. PRC citizens have
freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession,
and of demonstration.
36. PRC citizens have
freedom of religious belief. Citizens
cannot make use of religion to disrupt public order or interfere with the
educational system of the state.
37. No citizen may be
arrested except with the approval of a people’s procuratorate, a people’s
court, or public security organ.
38. Citizens shall be
secure from libel, false accusation, or false incrimination.
39. Citizens shall
have freedom from unlawful search of, or intrusion into, a residence.
40. Citizens shall
enjoy freedom and privacy of correspondence, except to meet the needs of state
security and criminal investigation.
41. Citizens have the
right to criticize and make suggestions regarding any state organ or
functionary and make complaints against those that violate the law or fail to
perform their duty.
42. Citizens have the
right and duty to work.
43. Citizens who work
have the right to rest and take vacations.
44. Citizens who are
retired are guaranteed livelihood by the state and society.
45. Citizens are
entitled to material assistance from the state and society if old, ill, or
disabled.
46. Citizens have the
right and duty to receive education.
47. Citizens have the
freedom to engage in scientific research, literary and artistic creation, and
other cultural pursuits.
48. Women shall enjoy
equal rights with men in all spheres of life.
49. Freedom of
marriage is protected by the state. Both
husband and wife have the duty to practice family planning.
50. The PRC shall
protect the legitimate rights of Chinese nationals residing abroad, family
members of Chinese nationals residing abroad, and lawful rights of returned
overseas Chinese.
51. Citizens, in
exercising their rights and freedoms, must not infringe upon the rights of the
state, of society, of the collective, or lawful freedoms and rights of other
citizens.
52. Citizens have the
duty to safeguard the unification of the country and the unity of all its
ethnicities.
53. Citizens must
abide by the Constitution and other laws, keep state secrets, protect public
property, observe labor discipline, observe public order, and respect social
ethics.
54. Citizens have the
duty to safeguard the security, honor, and interests of the motherland and must
not commit acts detrimental to the security, honor, and interests of the
motherland.
55. Citizens have the
duty to defend the motherland and resist aggression. Citizens have the duty to perform military
service and join the militia in accordance with the law.
56. Citizens shall
have the duty to pay taxes in accordance with the law.
These rights and duties would be reasonable if they were honored
in practice. A major problem is that the
Preamble and Chapter I in the Constitution, which specify the foundations of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,”
provide justification for violating constitutional rights.
Here is a partial list of constraints on the exercise of individual
rights stated in the Preamble and Chapter I.
(My comments in italics.)
The People’s Republic of China is a Socialist state. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the
leadership of the Communist Party. Any
disruption of the socialist system by an organization or individual is prohibited. (This
statement eliminates democracy, dissent, free and fair elections, criticism of
the Chinese Communist Party, and disobeying any other CCP dictums.)
The state upholds the Socialist legal system. (The Socialist
legal system does not provide the individual protections embedded in the Common
Law and Civil Law.)
The basis of the Socialist economic system is socialist
public ownership of the means of production.
All mineral resource, waters, forests, mountains,
grasslands, unclaimed land, beaches, and natural resources, and urban land are
owned by the state or rural collectives.
Non-public sectors of the economy (individual and private
sectors) are protected, but under the oversight and control of the state. (Individual
and private sectors are subject to the whims of the CCP and the state.)
The state protects both public and private property, but may
requisition or expropriate private property for public use with compensation. (The
state, not an independent tribunal, determines compensation.)
The state maintains public order and penalizes activities
that endanger public security or disrupt the socialist economy. (This
provision means that China can punish any individual or organization that does
not comply with official ideology or policy, without any appeal.)
What must be understood in these lists of rights, freedoms,
and duties is that the Chinese Communist Party and its subsidiary state organs
have the exclusive right and power to interpret and apply the Constitution and
laws of China. There are no appeals to
any independent constitutional or statutory authority.
No country is perfect in always applying its stated
principles of governance. There are
degrees of variation of adherence to human rights. By any measure, the United States is high on
the list of countries that give credence to human rights and China is far down.
Do you want to understand Chinese rules? Ask residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and
Chinese exiles in the West what the “Rule of Law” means in practice in China,
and what China’s promises to abide by written agreements means in practice for
Hong Kongers.
The United States does business with many countries that violate
their constitutional principles and legal guarantees. But none pose the same economic and political
threat to the United States as does China.
Burundi is not China.