Having once peddled the theory of “committed judiciary”, the Congress and the Left would love to subordinate the bench. China is moving in the other direction. As its economy grows more complex and the society more divisive, Chinese courts have acquired a new political weight.

Although severely constrained by the Party-State, the Chinese Supreme Court is finding space for itself — from implementing a range of newly approved economic laws to reforming the criminal procedure code.

Judge Xiao now has the huge task of interpreting the historic new law on property rights that was approved by the NPC last month. The law fudged a number of difficult issues to mollify the ideologues in the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese chief justice wants to make sure that courts across the nation clearly understand the 247 Articles in the law, which proclaims, “the property of the state, the collective, the individual is protected by law, and no unit or individuals may infringe upon it”.

Last year, Judge Xiao put an end to a 27-year-old practice in China where the lower courts decided on the death penalty. The Supreme Court has now reclaimed the authority to review and ratify all death sentences. The Supreme Court is empowered enough to crack down on judicial corruption and the failure of other state organs to implement the court’s orders.

Meanwhile pressures are building from below for reforming various laws. Last month, about 30 members of the NPC introduced amendments to the criminal procedure code demanding greater legal protection of the basic rights of those charged with crimes and limiting the power of the state to extract confessions.

Soft power

Communist China’s new-found obsession with ‘soft power’ as an instrument of foreign policy continues. The latest exhortation comes from Liu Yunshan, politburo member and propaganda czar, who said, “The first two decades of this century are a strategic period for China’s cultural development, and we should seize this opportunity to greatly improve the country’s cultural soft power”.

Meanwhile the Chinese government is raising the outlay on diplomatic spending abroad by nearly 40 per cent to 23 billion Yuan or nearly Rs 13,000 crore. Much of this spending abroad will go to such activities as foreign aid, peace-keeping operations and increased support to international organisations.

Happy boy

Soft power, of course, is a double-edged sword. While leveraging it abroad, China is aware of the need to manage it at home. As millions of Chinese youth gear up for the reality show, Happy Boy inspired by American Idol, the CCP is laying down the law.

“No weirdness, no vulgarity, no low taste,” the state administration for Radio, Film and Television told Hunan Satellite company, the show’s promoter. The eleven restrictions laid down by the Chinese Censor Board include one that the contestants must only sing “healthy and ethically inspiring” songs.

As reality shows gather massive viewership, the CCP is concerned about the potential political consequences. Last year, a similar show Super Girl drew nearly 400 million viewers to its finale.

There was speculation that the CCP might ban Hunan Satellite from going ahead with its programme this year. It required the intervention of the party boss of Hunan, Mao Zedong’s province, to save the show.

For the critics in Beijing, the reality shows threaten not just Chinese culture but also the CCP’s ideological dominance. For the Hunan government, the huge revenues from the show were too important to be subject to the ideological concerns about “spiritual pollution”. In a happy compromise, so typical of the Chinese pragmatism, Hunan Satellite agreed to modify the format of the programme. The show must go on.

The writer is professor at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore