Petitioning progresses toward its end(2)

The decision of the Third Plenum of the Party requires separating litigation from petition, and the document also regulates that authorities of letters and calls will not accept petition cases that should be solved within the framework of the law and dealt with by the courts. If people object to legal decisions, they should resort to civil law, criminal law or administrative review. The document also returns dispute settlement to the courts and guarantees their independence when resolving social contradictions.

In fact, with the modernization of the State governance system and the solving of social contradictions according to the rule of law, as well as the establishment of diversified dispute settlement mechanisms, including mediation, arbitration, reconciliation, the petition system should go with the tide of the times and be comprehensively and systematically reformed, before finally being abolished completely at an appropriate time.

Relying on the petition system and strengthening it go against the modernization of the State governance system. One crucial advance in governance has been underlining the function of formal institutions. Giving petitions, which are in essence an informal means of expressing a claim to rights and interests, too much importance in the system of governance undermines the rule of law and formal State governance system.

The petition system, while it exists, requires the following reforms in the future. First, with the emergence of social media the informative function of petitions has been remarkably weakened nowadays. Authorities can effectively solicit and evaluate public opinion in many ways other than through petitions, therefore the authorities no longer need to depend on the petition system to know what the public is thinking.

Second, the authorities should reduce people's perception that petitions are the only means of dispute settlement and public participation in politics. The petition system should be gradually reformed so it becomes an independent government accountability office or administrative appeal commissioner, until its final abolition.

Third, the people's congress system should be strengthened. As representatives of the public, the people's congress and its standing committees should be the main communication platform between the public and the government, and they should guarantee the orderly expression of public opinion and the public's supervision of State governance. People's congress at all levels can establish deputy liaison offices to improve relations between people and the deputies.

Last but not least, we should be alert to people placing obstacles in the way of petition system reform, as the ultimate goal should be to abolish the petition system eventually.

The author, Zhan Zhongle, is a law professor with Peking University.