Chinese president in crackdown on critics
MALCOLM MOORE BEIJING – 21 AUGUST 2013
CHINA's president has accelerated the country's descent into a police state by arresting scores of critics and targeting their lawyers following a Communist Party edict banning all discussion of "Western" values.
Six months after Xi Jinping became president, he has confounded hopes that he might tread a more liberal and constitutional path.
Instead, his administration has cast China into an existential battle against "Western" dangers.
China's evening news bulletin devoted its first eight minutes to Mr Xi's speech at a national conference on propaganda and ideological work. Mr Xi underlined that cadres "must resolutely maintain unity with the Communist Party's Central Committee" and help people draw a "clear line between right and wrong".
In a sign of Mr Xi's determination to quash all constitutional debate, China's vast security apparatus has been encouraged to arrest all government critics and assault their lawyers.
In July at least 44 lawyers were obstructed, detained or beaten up while trying to represent their clients.
"Whenever a lawyer wants to take a case, he is at risk," said Mr Liu. "No one is trying to limit police power, they can do anything they like."
Li Fangping, a human rights lawyer in Beijing, pointed to a document issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, China's top prosecutors' office, in June calling for the police to hunt down any "illegal assembly" or "crowd-gathering".
Mr Li said the document from the prosecutors' office "has gone beyond the rule of law".
