Rein in state power or face a national crisis, says professor
China should introduce more constitutional checks on the power of the government to prevent the country plunging into crisis, according to Peking University law professor He Weifang .
He said mainland authorities were under mounting pressure for deeper judicial reforms to ease tensions over their poor handling of disputes with the public.
'China is in the throes of a looming crisis as a result of the market economic reform, which has helped us solve some problems on one hand, while exposing many deep-rooted defects in our political systems on the other hand,' he said.
Professor He noted that last year had seen widespread public debate on the need to curb corruption and set up checks and balances on officials' power in the wake of a spate of mine blasts, land disputes and other crises, which often involved violence and huge economic losses.
Officials came under attack over the water pollution crisis in Harbin, riots in Shanwei, Guangdong, where at least three villagers were killed in December after police fired on protestors, and in Dingzhou , Hebei , where at least six villagers were beaten to death after refusing eviction in June.
'All these disputes have shown that we must build a modern constitutional system which strictly defines the power of the government. It isn't a bad thing if it doesn't lead to turbulence.
