Shenzhen's model army

It is probably not a coincidence that as the National People's Congress (NPC) was readying the passage of the Law on the Hong Kong Garrison in the past week, the propaganda machinery went into overdrive singing paeans to the 6th Company of Shenzhen. Defence Minister General Chi Haotian , who played a substantial role in the June 4, 1989 crackdown, was in Shenzhen last week to inspect the paragon unit, known as the Wonderful 6th Company of the Spiritually Civilised Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. General Chi lauded the platoon, whose official designation was approved by President Jiang Zemin , for its 'correct world view, philosophy of life, and value system'. 'You have hoisted a loud and bright banner against Mammonism, hedonism and extreme individualism,' the Liberation Army Daily quoted the top general as saying. Following Mr Jiang's script about spiritual civilisation, the Central Military Commission (CMC) vice-chairman praised the heroes and heroines for their 'four attributes' and 'four loyalties'. This means they boasted 'ideals, morality, culture and discipline', and they were 'perpetually loyal' to the party, the motherland, the people and socialism. In the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Hall of Fame, the 6th Company is now on a par with the Wonderful 8th Company of Nanjing Road, Shanghai, and the Hard-as-steel 8th Company of the Hainan Beachhead. What distinguishes the Shenzhen corps, however, is its ability to withstand the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism - or temptations emanating from neighbouring Hong Kong. After all, as the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily disclosed, there were 150-odd karaoke bars, massage parlours, sauna baths and assorted clubs within a 500-metre radius of the platoon headquarters. Platoon members do not smoke, drink, swear, or gawk at beautiful women. They also spurn the favourite national pastime: dabbling in the stock market. After all, there are two heavily patronised stockbrokers less than 300 metres from the platoon office. To this day, no company member has bought a single share. A veteran PLA watcher pointed out the national publicity given the 6th Company was an effort by the Jiang leadership to raise army discipline and morale - and to placate Hong Kong. After all, the soldiers of the Hong Kong Garrison, which started training in Shenzhen more than two years ago, have taken the 6th Company as their model. The question with Chinese-style myth-making, however, is that since the paragons and pace-setters are too sqeaky-clean to be believable, admiration soon gives way to cynicism. For example, it is common knowledge that practically all PLA units are, to use an army euphemism, enthusiastic participants in the commodity economy. Former Shenzhen-based commissar Lei Mingqiu, an early candidate for the post of commander of the Hong Kong Garrison, was a successful army entrepreneur. The PLA analyst pointed out the leadership would do a much better job assuring the mainland and Hong Kong if the principle of 'running the army according to law' were enshrined. Unfortunately, the debate on the draft National Defence Law, which started last week, has proved unsatisfactory. Liberal NPC leaders such as Qiao Shi and Tian Jiyun want the PLA to be subject to the supervision of the legislature. Deputy Huang Yuzhang thinks the law should bar the army from doing business - and oblige the government to satisfy the NPC that the PLA budget is spent judiciously. However, the bulk of lawmakers will likely codify the principle of the party's 'absolute leadership' over the PLA. This means control of the three million-strong forces will still rest with the CMC, a secretive club of leaders including Mr Jiang and General Chi. Misgivings about the PLA's accountability also apply to another 'tool of the dictatorship of the proletariat': the public security forces. By chance, the NPC has also been debating a draft criminal code which contains what Chinese jurists claim to be liberal, even 'Westernised' elements. They include curtailing the power of the police to detain suspects; vouchsafing them some form of presumption of innocence; and calling anti-Beijing activities 'crimes against state security' instead of 'counter-revolutionary crimes'. As an NPC leader pointed out last week, 'We must run the country according to law; we must boost supervision [over the Government].' A large number of leaders in both government and the legislature, however, have yet to wean themselves from the Maoist approach to law-and-order. This is most evident in the way the Strike Hard campaign against hard-core criminals is being waged. Since the current phase of Strike Hard started in April, more than half a million suspects in connection with 390,000 cases have been apprehended. Thanks to expedited procuratorial and judicial procedures, several thousand criminals have been summarily shot. NPC vice-chairman Li Ximing, however, is not satisfied with the results. The former party boss of Beijing, who played a key role in persuading Deng Xiaoping to use force against the student demonstrators in 1989, advocated a Cultural Revolution-vintage mass movement against felons. 'In some places, the masses have not yet been mobilised,' he told the NPC Standing Committee on Saturday, adding that 'the spirit of public security volunteers should be encouraged'. In numerous cities and towns, the Maoist practice of assigning 'quotas' of criminals to be nabbed has been revived. The party secretary or mayor of a city has to sign a 'responsibility certificate' guaranteeing that his 'area of responsibility' be free of gangs that year. Again perhaps with an eye to reassuring Hong Kong, the Guangdong cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai have been most zealous in speeding up convictions and staging public execution of criminals. In their eagerness to please superiors - and the assessors in the Organisation Department - local leaders are known to have played fast and loose with the fine points of the law to get their town declared a 'model unit in spiritual civilisation'.