Chinese human rights activist Li Jianping says Chinese President Hu Jintao is cracking down on legal experts who seek to use Chinese law to press for greater freedom and rule of law.
Li is one of the few legal scholars in China who is pressing the communist government to follow its laws, which technically guarantee basic freedoms but in reality are applied at the whim of the dictatorship.
Li told the New York Times that Hu has said in internal party speeches that China must block “color revolutions” like those that have swept Central Asia and Central Europe. China regards the democratization movement as the result of civic and social groups with help from “foreign forces.”
Hu has ordered Chinese authorities to crack down on lawyers and journalists and has tightened the Communist Party’s control over the court system.
Former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin said last year that China’s rule of law was nonexistent. Despite having a court system, the Chinese generally seek people in the party with connections who can help them get out of trouble.
