Thirty Million Appeals Occurred in China Last Year

Appeals in China have risen dramatically. From 1979 to 1982 there were 20,000 appeals; however, 30 million appeals occurred in China last year, according to Li Shuguang, the Vice-Dean of Political Science and Law at China University. Li thinks this indicates an extreme problem in China– that people lack channels to express opinions, and dissatisfaction is only being aggravated from day to day.

Current means for expressing opinions for the Chinese are posting on the internet, appealing to higher level authorities, and creating localized rebellions. According to statistics, there were over 80,000 riots consisting of more than 20 people and those appellants were even “fighting with their lives.” Li believes that channels are obstructed for people to express their views.

On March 4, the China Society of Economic Reform (affiliated with the State Council of the People’s Republic of China) held a meeting at a Beijing hotel about the future of China’s economy and reforms, and to discuss how to proceed with reforms of China’s market, according to a report by the Voice of America.

In the meeting, scholars, including Li, brought up topics such as selling stocks of large-scale state-run commercial banks to foreign investors, sensitive statistics reflecting the public’s dissatisfied feelings, how the Communist autocracy violates the constitution, and so on. “My own view is that the time for economic reform has ended,” said Li at the meeting. “At present, Chinese people don’t consider more material benefits as a crucial demand, and what seems to be more important is the extreme lack of rights.”

“China’s traditional administration can’t resolve the problem of the lack of human rights. I hope we can develop just procedures and create judiciary channels to preserve people’s rights and interests in the future,” said Li.

Before long, the minutes of the session were posted on the website Huayue Forum. According to the New York Times, one person who took part in the session said in an interview that the published minutes were accurate.