In this chapter, we will examine Chinese constitutional dynamics in the first
decade of the twenty-first century, especially the 2004 constitutional amendments
and their applications and implications. There are eight subsections below,
addressing the issues of ‘we, the people’; ‘constitutional review’; ‘amendments to
the electoral law’; ‘the government of law’; ‘human rights’; ‘Hong Kong, Macau and
Taiwan’; ‘judicial reform’; and ‘the Chinese presidency’. We finish this decennial
review with a short conclusion, where two prospects for China’s constitutionalism
will be contrasted.
ii. chinese constitutional dynamics
We, the people
Socialist states, in orthodox terms, are established by and for the proletariat. As the
Chinese constitution states: ‘The People’s Republic of China is a socialist state
under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on
the alliance of workers and peasants’.
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In this provision, ‘people’ is an exclusive
concept, which in the Chinese political context draws a line between the country’s
masters – workers and peasants – and its internal ‘aliens’ who are either ‘people’s
enemies’ or those untrustworthy. However, Article 33 of the Constitution recognises:
All persons holding the nationality of the People’s Republic of China
are citizens of the People’s Republic of China. All citizens of the
People’s Republic of China are equal before the law. Every citizen
enjoys the rights and at the same time must perform the duties pre-
scribed by the Constitution and the law.^10
The concept of ‘citizenship’ is comparatively inclusive, as it discriminates against
neither political dissenters nor non-communist nationals. Even if one is neither a
worker nor a peasant, she or he remains entitled to civil and political rights
pursuant to Article 33.
The 2004 constitutional amendments have paved the way to co-ordinating the
two concepts and thus two constitutional provisions. As mentioned in the introduc-
tion, ‘the important thought of “Three Represents”’ was added to the Constitution.
Here ‘Three Represents’ refers to a speech given by President Jiang Zemin on
25 February 2000 in Guangdong. President Jiang declared, ‘the Chinese Commun-
ist Party represents the developmental needs of China’s advanced social productiv-
ity; it represents the direction of China’s cultural advancement; and it represents
the fundamental interest of the broadest range of the Chinese people’. In interpret-
ing ‘developmental needs of China’s advanced social productivity’, the Chinese
leadership has recognised that investors and employers’ interests shall be respected
(^9) The 1982 Constitution, Art. 1. (^10) Ibid., Art. 33.