The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Committee and the State Council of the Chinese government issued the “Opinions on Supporting the Reform and Development of Private Enterprises.” In the contents, the CCP vows to “protect the legal property of private enterprises and entrepreneurs” and to “implement larger scale tax and fee cuts” to “substantially reduce the burden on private enterprises.”

This opinion claims to improve the fair and competitive market environment, improve a precise and effective policy environment, enhance the legal environment for equal protection, encourage and guide the reforms and innovations of private enterprises, and promote the normal and healthy development of private enterprises.

On the “protect the legal property of private enterprises and entrepreneurs,” the opinion claims to adopt measures such as seizure and freezing in strict accordance with legal procedures, strictly to distinguish illegal income in other case-related property and legal property, strictly to distinguish corporate legal personal property from shareholders’ personal property, and strictly to distinguish between the personal property of the persons involved and the property of family members.

As China’s economic policy has turned left in recent years, private enterprises are projecting a gloomier future. In the second half of 2019, the founders of a few large private enterprises in China retired one by one. Following the announcements, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Ma Huateng from Tencent, Li Yanhong from Baidu, and Liu Qiangdong from JD.com, Inc. all resigned as chairman one after the other. In December, Wang Wei, chairman of SF Express Group, and Liu Chuanzhi, founder of the Lenovo Group announced their resignations. In response, Beijing’s recent move is suspected to boost the low economic sentiments, especially among the private sector.

Source: Central News Agency, December 22, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201912220192.aspx

China recently hosted a Global Lawyers Forum in Guangzhou, claiming that more than 400 international participants had been invited. Among them, a representative of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), who was originally invited to give a speech at the conference, had his speech cancelled at the last minute. UIA issued a statement expressing its dissatisfaction.

In the beginning, the Chinese authorities called this event in Chinese the equivalent of the “World Lawyers Congress,” but its official English name was “Global Lawyers Forum.” China’s official mouthpiece, Xinhua News Agency reported that the participants included more than 400 international judicial professionals from 57 countries, including the International Bar Association (IBA), the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), and the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA).

The French-based International Association of Lawyers (UIA) issued a press release on December 17 to shed some light on an incident that Chinese media had not covered. The release stated that UIA President Jerome Roth was originally invited to give a keynote speech at the meeting, but the scheduled speech was cancelled after the content of the speech was submitted to the organizer in advance as had been requested.

UIA’s release shared part of Roth’s speech, which emphasized, “The unique role that both individual lawyers and bar associations play as privileged guardians and defenders of citizens’ rights and of the Rule of Law.” “We advocate for the independence of the bar and of the judiciary, without which there would be no Rule of Law.”

Roth’s speech also talked about the significance of the rule of law, including, “the accountability of political authorities of a nation to its citizens, the separation of powers, and laws that are publicly promulgated, equitably enforced, independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards.”

UIA did not say in the press release whether the cancellation of Roth’s speech was because it sounded too harsh on Beijing.

At the end of the statement, UIA reiterated its concern over Chinese lawyers who had disappeared, were threatened, detained, and even physically and mentally abused during their practice of the law, and who were unable to defend their own rights through proper judicial channels.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 19, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/rc-12192019103919.html