Adultery is more of a moral than legal crime

On Wednesday, Ji Wenlin, former vice-governor of Hainan province, was expelled from the Party and removed from the official post for taking bribes and adultery. A few days ago, Xu Jie, deputy chief of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls was removed from his post for the same reason. Such cases have sparked an online debate on whether adultery constitutes a crime under China's laws.

Some people believe that although extramarital affairs are moral rather than legal issues, at times they could lead to violence and other crimes. In order to avoid such consequences, therefore, law enforcement officers should treat it as a crime. For example, a woman poured petrol on another woman and set fire to her in Kunming, Yunnan province, on the weekend. Since the tragedy was the fallout of the extramarital affair the suspect's husband was having with the victim, many people say that the law should be enforced to punish those who are having extramarital affairs.

In adultery cases, however, we should follow the principle of legality, which means if a person's action is characterized as a crime, there has to be related specific legal provisions to convict him/her. But according to Chinese laws, China does not have any legal provision to punish a person for adultery.