From Chinese Press

Local govts' stupid measures

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-26 07:54

Maintenance of social stability should no longer be used as a pretext by local governments to prevent people from seeking help from the central authorities, says an article in Zhujiang Evening News. Excerpts:

The number of underprivileged people approaching the central government for help has risen sharply in recent years, underlining the intense contradiction between local governments and residents.

Many such people ask the central government to stop local governments from evicting them from their homes and relocating them elsewhere. These local governments force the people to sell their land to them at throwaway prices and then resell them to developers at sky-high prices.

Local officials then prevent many of the people who refuse to part with their land and whose cases are left unresolved from approaching the central government or declare them intellectually challenged and put them into asylums.

The local governments are not bothered that such measures are illegal and use maintenance of social stability as an excuse for their actions. In fact, this ruse is being used by almost all the local governments to gag protests against forcible acquisition of land and property.

But the rising number of people who are approaching the central government for help show that actually social stability is weakening. Hiding such cases instead of handling them properly at the very beginning is nothing but a stupid expedient measure.

(China Daily 05/26/2010 page9)