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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, July 15, 2016

Seven years ago today, China Law and Policy (“CL&P”) was born.  With Chinese language skills, a knowledge of Chinese history and an understanding of law, our goal was to offer a nuanced perspective on China, in particular its legal development and how that development shapes the rest of the world.

In the past seven years, many of our blog posts have focused on the growth, and recent retraction, of China’s human rights attorneys. We believe that legal development does not happen in a vacuum.  While the most recent crackdown on human rights lawyers appears limited to just these lawyers, it is not.  It reflects a ruling party ideology that is uncomfortable with – if not completely hostile to – a rule of law.  Especially when that rule of law seeks to constrain the unbridled actions of the Chinese Communist Party, or more aptly, the actions of its chief, President Xi Jinping.  The western public should not be surprised that China has no interest in abiding by the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s South China decision if it willy-nilly violates its own domestic laws, holding human rights attorneys in detention without access to lawyers and charging them with subversion.

As a result, CL&P’s mission is even more important now than when we first started.  But since it is CL&P‘s birthday, it is time to take stock.  Our reach continues to grow.  We have over 5,500 followers over all of our platforms (twitter, facebook, email and RSS feed) and our posts continue to be cited by journalists, Congress, academics and other bloggers.  Our most popular posts this year deal with issues that China is grappling with in its relationship with the rest of the world.  Our post on the expulsion of French journalist Ursula Gauthier was by far the most popular post this year.  But Anatomy of a Crackdown: China’s Assault on its Human Rights Lawyers, was a close second.  Also in the top five were our analysis of China’s first gay marriage case and our review of Wang Nanfu’s movie, Hooligan Sparrow, a documentary on the life, times and adversity of feminist advocate Ye Haiyan.  Our annual Lunar New Year greeting, a playful post in our “Just for Fun” category, again rounded out the top five.

Where is the cake? Happy birthday China Law & Policy!

While CL&P continues to thrive, I will admit that over the past few months, balancing this blog with other life events has been a challenge.  Hence, a decrease in the level of posting.  But going forward my commitment remains strong to continue this blog and to find even more voices to publicize through our podcasts and guest blogging program.  So if you are interested in writing for CL&P or you have an idea for a blog post or podcast, please reach out: elynch@chinalawandpolicy.com.

Again, this year, I want to thank everyone who reads this blog and who has given me much needed comments, edits and information. But in particular, I want to thank a few individuals who have provided support, encouragement, and ideas that have sustained me through this year:  Jerome Cohen, Amala Lane, Jeremy Daum, Andrea Worden, Edward Wong, Eva Pils, Tom Cantwell, Madhuri Kommareddi, Elise Brown and Jerome Lynch.

Finally, I want to thank the hundreds of Chinese public interest lawyers who continue to fight for the rights of China’s most vulnerable, even in the wake of the Chinese government’s efforts to end their work and obliterate their lawyering.  From your practice of law and your tenacity I have learned much that I seek to apply in my work as a legal services attorney. I continue to be humbled by all that you do.

Thank You and Happy Birthday to China Law & Policy!

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, July 12, 2016

Lawyer Wang Yu, ABA’s inaugural International Human Rights Award recipient.

On the one-year anniversary of the Chinese government’s widespread crackdown of the country’s civil rights attorneys, the American Bar Association (ABA) finally made good.  After its tepid response last summer to the Chinese government’s detention of over 300 lawyers and advocates, on Friday, the ABA boldly awarded its inaugural International Human Rights Award to Chinese civil rights attorney Wang Yu (pronounced Wong U).

But Wang Yu won’t be in San Francisco on August 6 to accept her award.  For Wang Yu and 23 other advocates are still being held by the Chinese government, many charged with the very serious crime of subverting state power, which can carry a life sentence.  All because of their representation of some of society’s most vulnerable: the poor, religious minorities, child sex victims, intellectuals that the state has deemed an enemy such as Ilham Tohti.  In other countries, this type of representation would be celebrated.  But in China, it is seen as a threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rule.  Ironically, the rights these advocates fought for on behalf of their clients – the right to meet with their attorney (only 6 of the 24 have had access to an attorney), the right to a fair trial, the right to a speedy trial in accordance with Chinese law – are being denied to them as they are isolated in prison.

Wang Yu, in front of a Chinese court, with a sign stating “Return my right to see my clients”

Arrests and persecution of China’s civil rights lawyers have been ongoing since Xi Jinping ascended to power in 2012.  But what makes the July 9 Crackdown unprecedented is its scope and its public nature.  Prior arrests and prosecutions, such as that of Xu Zhiyong, have not received the public attention and the vilification that the July 9 Crackdown has received.  Soon after the mass round-up of advocates, the state-run Legal Daily ran an infographic calling these lawyers a “criminal syndicate” and heavily suggesting that these lawyers are mere conduits of foreign money and ideas as opposed to their motivation coming from their own intrinsic sense of justice. (Translation of the infographic courtesy of China Law Translate)

But what the Chinese government doesn’t get with its July 9 Crackdown is that it is its own lack of transparency, unbridled corruption and squelching of citizens’ rights that ensures that this movement will continue.  Chinese civil rights advocates might be weakened but they are far from dead; to think otherwise does not give these advocates the credit they are due.  As long as the CCP continues on its course of one-party rule with little space for public disagreement, their rise is inevitable.  Wang Yu became a civil rights lawyer after the police mistreated her in a railway station and then bizarrely charged her with “intentional assault.”  Cao Shunli (pronounced Tsao Shun-lee) was just a civil servant until she was fired from her job for alerting her supervisors to the corruption of the local housing lottery.  After that, she became a rights activists only to die in police captivity in 2014.  Tang Jitian (pronounced Tang Gee Tea-an) was a prosecutor for seven years before he could no longer stand the daily injustice and corruption endemic in the system.  He then took the test to become a criminal defense lawyer to represent those whose rights were being trampled by the state.

For sure the ABA’s awarding of its International Human Rights prize falls on the CCP’s increasingly deaf ears.  But that doesn’t mean we should remain silent as the CCP dismantles a rule of law society.  For Wang Yu, and the advocates imprisoned with her, the ABA’s award is important recognition of their work, recognition that their own government refuses to bestow even as it adopts a few of the changes they have called for to make China a more just society.