30-SEP-1993 15:37
POLITICAL ADVISER" OFF.
852 604 6738
P.C.
hope that the decision had been made by the local authorities, but in the end this proved to be mere wishful thinking on my part. On August 18, Xinhua issued a second report, announcing that the relevant department of the Chinese government had now decided to cancel my passport. With this, the incident soared to a fresh level of drama. I had totally miscalculated my government's decision-making logic and general mode of operation, and grossly underestimated its capacity for committing blunders.
On August 14, I was expelled from China. This is an undisputed fact and also the source of the entire subsequent controversy. In all of the Chinese authorities' so-called news dispatches, however, what stands out most clearly is their strict avoidance of any mention whatsoever of the word
word "expulsion." Instead, they have foisted the phrase "denial of entry" upon public opinion, and have then tried to justify their actions by identifying the legal basis for this "refusal to allow entry" and "revocation of the passport." The latter phrases, after all, do at least exist in Chinese law, whereas the expulsion of a citizen from China constitutes, without any shred of doubt, a major violation of the law.
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From its initial position of refusing to come forward with any legal explanations, the Chinese government eventually - in the form of statements by the Ministry of Public Security on August 27 and again on September 7- began to realize that behaving in an arbitrary and despotic manner simply wouldn't do, and that if it wished to appear dignified and civilized then it would at least have to offer some kind of legal accounting. The rule of law, however, is a complete and comprehensive system, and it must be interpreted and applied as such. It does not admit of selective manipulation or as a means merely of confusing public perceptions. Let us therefore now briefly examine all the various laws relating to my case.
Firstly, one can search through the entire body of Chinese law and nowhere will one find a single regulation, article or clause stipulating that a Chinese citizen can be lawfully expelled from the country. There is no such regulation.
According to Article 13 of the Law on Administration of Border Exit and Entry by Citizens of the PRC (effective from February 1, 1986), "The Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Inspectorate of Port Affairs and the original document-issuing offices are empowered to revoke or declare invalid any passports or other identity documents that they have issued".
According, however, to Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations for the Law on Administration of Border Exit and Entry by Citizens of the PRC (effective from December 25, 1986), "A passport or other travel document may be revoked or declared invalid on one of the following grounds: 1) if the holder has entered or stayed illegally in another country and then been sent back to China; 2) if the holder has used the passport or other document to engage in malpractice or fraud while inside [China]. In such cases, the passport or other travel document shall be revoked or declared invalid by the original issuing organ or by its superior body."
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