Political Influence on the Chinese Legal System

After reading “Saboteur” and “A Bad Joke” I thought that these stories only described situations in the 1960s and 1970s so I decided to research the current role of the Chinese government in the legal system and I was shocked to find that both stories represent the current situation. I learned about the liuzhi system that is enforced by the CCP as an investigation system. Under the liuzhi system, the Chinese government is able to investigate any communist party member exercising public authority for up to 6 months. Sometimes those that are detained aren’t given access to legal counsel or their families for the 6-month period. One of the most prominent recent investigations is the investigation of former Interpol President Meng Hongwei who was detained in September.