The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, September 27, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/9pRtYk

The outbreak of strikes at foreign-invested enterprises in China during the summer raises significant questions about the future of China’s industrial work force, and highlights a number of tensions at play. The questions involve different sectors of Chinese society, including business; government, including the state-controlled labor union; the All-China Federation of Labor Unions (ACFTU), and the work force.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, September 3, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/coYybu

Sino-American cooperation to increase product safety is increasing, but this does not relieve concern about the safety of food and other Chinese exports to the U.S. China’s enforcement of its own laws remains inconsistent, local governments often try to hide information about defective products, and whistleblowers risk punishment. Moreover, as China’s foreign trade expands, problems may also grow in other areas.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, August 16, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/aR0Q5U

The beatings of petitioners or protesters—or even anyone like the official’s wife who was mistaken for a petitioner—only illustrates the conflicting goals of maintaining stability and citizen’s rights. Underlying that conflict, however, is the more basic ongoing tension between maintaining authoritarian rule and fostering economic development.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, July 11, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/8ZWS4X

Workers have been angered when local governments attempt to close down inefficient factories. If changes in the location of factories, increased automation or other developments cause increased labor protest, the ACFTU and the Chinese government will encounter new challenges.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, June 25, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/ddUYrI

The recent wave of strikes in foreign-owned enterprises in China may surprise many foreigners, but it is really another chapter in the history of the struggle by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1949 to define its role in the organization and control of the labor force.

-The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, June 2, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/06/02/stanley-lubman-chinas-lawyers-muzzled/

The Chinese government’s heightened determination to discourage and intimidate lawyers from representing clients in cases deemed “sensitive,” or for speaking out on violations of human rights, has been on harsh display in recent weeks. The month of May was marked by several examples of tactics that the central and local governments have employed or condoned in recent years to pressure lawyers. Among these tactics have been abductions and beatings of lawyers, detention by police, pressure on law firms to stop taking cases, and permanent disbarment.

-The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, June 15, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/bzFBFo

Criminal law and procedure are so politically sensitive that reform is being carried out slowly and cautiously. It is difficult to reform one set of institutions, however, without encountering obstacles presented by defects in the operation of related institutions. For example, more criminal lawyers are needed to step forward to defend clients—but risk being viewed as threatening social stability by representing elements of Chinese society seen as dangerous. Criminal lawyers need greater access to their clients than the system presently allows.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, May 24, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/bnD5G6

These reports reflect the Chinese government’s latest moves to intimidate or silence activities of citizens who seek to arouse public concern over actions or inaction by government agencies that are regarded by the government as troublesome, as well as lawyers considered to be too aggressive in representing their clients in public interest litigation.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, May 5, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/d91io0

What should interested foreign readers make of these analyses? At the moment, only an awareness that beneath the labels that foreigners often affix to Chinese governmental institutions, such as the LPCs, the roles of the LPCs in making policy and increasing transparency are expanding because of the growing complexity of Chinese society and the economy. That shift shouldn’t be overlooked.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, April 19, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/da8lzx

The Ministry of Science and Technology last week formally relaxed proposed requirements that technologies owned by foreign companies must meet in order to sell them to Chinese government agencies…. But the modifications don’t address continuing and significant concerns for foreign owners, including the very real possibility that China’s administrative decentralization will result in inconsistent administration of the procurement rules.

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, April 7, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/9rg8zI

Chinese government emphasis on giving priority to “indigenous innovation” in government procurement has generated rules that will limit foreign companies’ ability to transfer technology and to sell products to government entities.