Chinese officials and delegates attend the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on Mar 11, 2024. SINGAPORE: China has dropped a controversial clause in the latest draft of a public security law that would have punished anyone guilty of “hurting the feelings of the Chinese nation”, months after the proposal
It now takes aim at clothing or symbols that “promote or glorify aggressive war or aggressive behaviour, causing a negative social impact”.The original phrasing was “subjective” and would make it “difficult to define its meaning in legislation and hard to grasp in law enforcement”, said Mr Shen Chunyao, deputy chairman of the NPC constitution and law committee, on Tuesday to the ruling Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily as quoted by South China Morning Post .
Mr Tong Zhiwei, a law professor in Shanghai, wrote on Weibo that month:"Who confirms the 'spirit of the Chinese nation' and according to what procedure? Who recognises the 'feelings of the Chinese nation' and according to what procedures?"Mr Lao Dongyan, a professor of criminal law at Tsinghua University, said the proposed amendment “will create new space for corruption and may also intensify the conflict between the police and the public, posing new risks to social...
The original text of the “hurt feelings” draft amendment diverges from the longstanding CCP phrase, in that it instead refers to individuals who “hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation”, or “shang hai zhong hua min zu gan qing”. In the wake of the latest changes, Mr Liu Sida, a law and sociology professor at the University of Hong Kong, told SCMP it was “truly heartening” to see the NPC seriously considering citizens’ opinions and opting to remove “vague and overly broad language” from the draft law.
“It is not to say that the public’s understanding of the simple ‘feelings of the Chinese people’ is controversial … different groups inevitably have different understandings of ‘hurt feelings’,” the piece stated.