Apparently the Communist Party of China's Central Political and Legislative Affairs Committee has come up with a workable scheme to divert the pressure posed by letters and visits of complaints, or "xin fang," on Beijing.

Instead of being overwhelmed by desperate visitors from provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities, the authorities want to pre-empt the throngs and have the stories of injustice heard and handled outside Beijing.

We do not know for sure whether this is an expedient engineered specifically with an eye on the upcoming National Day celebration, though some do suspect that to be the case. We hope it is not. We would like every measure conducive to justice to prevail. Any constructive attempt to address the xin fang conundrum is more than welcome.

Since litigation and law enforcement continue to be the focus of popular dissatisfaction, the committee promises to dispatch special panels to provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities), where such complaints are concentrated, for hearings on the spot.

This is better than just ordering local authorities to stop people from bringing their sad stories to Beijing. That simplistic approach has resulted in official interceptors being sent from the provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities) to Beijing to track down and coaxingly take home innocent citizens who had no access to justice at home. In order not to have their career records tarnished by complaints, local officials are known to be ready to do whatever it takes to cover up problems occurring in their jurisdiction. We cannot take any more stories such as innocent citizens being sent to psychiatric hospitals or forced into custody just for wanting their complaints to be heard. Nor can the authorities' credibility stand it.

Having been through all those sad episodes, we believe the new initiative, if carried out earnestly, may bring about positive changes. For one, a section of people may have their problems solved without traveling all the way to Beijing.

Yet this, after all, remains an expedient. Not every province (autonomous region or municipality) can see such panels, and the panels are not there to stay. If they do stay, we will have to worry as to whether they will work as expected of them. Besides, that would do nothing to make local authorities behave.

People brave the risk of retaliation to bring injustice to the attention of higher authorities because they distrust local officials. The central authorities want to convince people that their problems can be solved locally, and that letters would be as effective as personal visits.

Sending inspectors to the provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities) alone cannot do the trick. The key to a solution lies in rebuilding local governance and public confidence. It is dangerous if every injustice has to be undone with direct intervention from Beijing.

(China Daily August 20, 2009)