PEK INI.
ZALUTEL
CONFIDENTIAL
PHGE VR
CONFIDENTIAL
Chinese
"interference" in internal affairs. At the same time, the drive for economic reform and political stability within the country has highlighted a practical need to strengthen safeguards for the individual. People must be free from Party interference, harassment, arbitrary punishment and the invasion of private life if they are to have the energy and confidence needed for economic innovation, greater working efficiency and the maximisation of profit. Intellectuals, including civil servants, need the same freedoms but also respect for their professional rights and qualifications if they are to provide the new practical ideas and theoretical under-pinning that reform so badly needs. of all kinds need freedom to express their true views on Government policy, blow the whistle on abuses, and put forward new ideas if Deng Xiaoping's ideal of an enlightened, honest, balanced and self-regulating leadership is to be achieved. This last notion in particular links up with a liberal strand which has always been present in Chinese concepts of ruler-subject relations, alongside the more authoritarian ones. (The idea that people should also be free to choose the Leadership and dictata its policies through representative institutions is not part of the debate nor, at present, the reality of life in China),
The highest Chinese leaders have recognised and clearly associated themselves with these truths. Zhao Ziyang said in his last report to the 13th Party Congress in October 1987 "Since from time to time the rights of the masses are encroached upon, we should enact laws governing the press, publication association, assembly and procession, and establish a people's appeals system, so as to guarantee the citizens' rights and freedom as stipulated by the constitution. At the same time, we should put an end to abuses of those rights and freedoms . This is a fundamental guarantee against a recurrence of the "Cultural Revolution" and for lasting political stability in the country".
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But performance has been patchy, for both practical and psychological reasons. The reconstruction, or more correctly const lotion ab initio, of a universal impartial legal system and a professional government machine i S a huge and slow process. Getting the average Chinese to take it seriously is even harder. The temptation is ever-present to revert to authoritarian methods, summary punishment and so forth to deal with the new abuses, social conflict and violence generated by certain effects of the reforms themselves. There is indeed considerable popular support for a tough line in the case of corruption: a corrupt local boss can ruin people's lives and deny their rights almost as thoroughly as a fanatical Macist. Again, some leading cadres even at the top levels
no doubt unpersuaded of the necessity of the new policy and unwilling to give up old habits.
CONFIDENTIAL