Asia Centre

The originators of this proposal were two local figures: Xu Hui and Zhang Youliang. Mrs. Xu Hui, an economics professor at Lanzhou university, had become known to the Gansu provincial legislative offices in September 2002, when as a private citizen she responded to an appeal from the authorities who were drawing up a bill to prevent water pollution in the part of Gansu crossed by the Yellow River. Her suggestions had been appreciated and debated, but the financial and technical constraints upon provincial resources had not enabled the law in question to be adopted.

Mr. Zhang, who lectures in law at the Lanzhou technological university, heads the team drawing up the legal bill. His research interests are concerned with citizens' participation. It was he who wished to include in the "bill on the rules concerning the legislative process" a provision allowing citizens to present their suggestions "directly" to the standing committee. In his view "the meaning which must be given to the concept of a harmonious society" is that it promotes "the spirit of citizens' participation" (公民参与的精神, gongmin canyu de jingshen).

In specific terms, this "bill concerning the governance of the legislative process of the Gansu provincial Assembly and its standing committee" provides, in article 4, that "the organisations, enterprises, communal groups, and private citizens may submit their suggestions concerning legislative matters to the standing representatives of the provincial Assembly, either directly or through the deputies who represent them, the panels of experts, or the working groups of the standing committee".

This would be the first time that such a "right of legislative suggestion" (立法建议的权力, lifa jianyi de quanli) to the standing committee of a provincial Assembly had been granted to ordinary citizens. Formerly, the latter only took part in the legislative process when they were requested. Yang Xingchang, head of the legislative office within the standing committee of the Gansu provincial Assembly, emphasises that it concerns only a right to make suggestions (提议权, tiyiquan) and not a "legal bill" (提案权, ti’anquan) which is subject to strict procedural rules. The latter bill can in fact only be proposed through the committee which presides over the provincial Assembly, by the standing committee of the Assembly, by a committee of experts, by the provincial government, by an official delegation, or by groups including more than ten deputies. Yang Xingchang believes that with this right of suggestion "the way to the expression of the citizens' will should become less constricted".

Zhang Youliang defends his proposal on the grounds that it has now become possible to give ordinary citizens the right to suggest laws, because two preconditions have already been met. Firstly, there is a "participatory consciousness among the ordinary citizens" which is being "continually re-awakened", and secondly freer access to information is no longer "monopolised by the State" but is "shared by all".

Having set out these two points, Zhang nonetheless acknowledges that there are limits to his proposed law. Under present circumstances, the citizens' "right of suggestion" is necessarily "purely formal", since no decision has yet been made concerning its practical implementation, or in other words the concrete means of its expression (how it could be framed, in what form, and with what consequences). At present, private citizens are not allowed to attend the debates over any new laws under consideration. Mr. Zhang would therefore like to see the proposal being given a more specific content to take it beyond being a formal right. He also recognises that it is arousing strong opposition, and he believes that it "may not be adopted" by the national People's Congress whose "closed circuit" operations and lack of openness he deplores.

Although Yang Xingchang gave the proposal a favourable response, he raised questions over society's readiness for it. He wondered whether the citizens would greet it with "sufficient enthusiasm" and whether their suggestions would be of sufficient quality. That is why he recommended that "this route" towards citizens' participation be opened up, but "not too much".