Local authorities issued the demolition order in January 2015. Since the hospital did not apply for administrative review or appeal the decision in court, “the decision of land requisition has come into effect,” said Xiong.
In China, there is an intricate legal process before actual land requisition can take place. Even when the demolition is eventually done by force, it requires a court order, which hadn’t happened in this case.
Chen Lei, director of the hospital’s logistics department, confirmed that the hospital did receive notice of land requisition. “Both parties have been negotiating over whether the radiology department should be demolished,” said Chen. On Dec. 29, the local government agency decided that the demolition would be carried out, but didn’t specify a date.
“Compensation should be made at once for the demolition and relocation of equipment. We have so many machines in the hospital that need to be relocated. You know, x-ray protection measures are complicated and expensive. … We never expected that they would come to demolish today,” Chen told The Paper.
The press office of Huiji District published a statement on its Weibo account (China’s version of Twitter, which is banned), responding that personnel had checked and confirmed that no one was in the building, and stated that any behavior violating the law or regulations would be handled seriously.
News of demolition triggered strong reaction on the Internet. One joke circulating suggested that the local government offices should be demolished instead since they “get in the way of the development of traffic and local business.”
Frank Fang contributed to the report.
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