CHARTER 08: Full Text in "Public Domain" or "Fair Use" 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Full Text.

I. Foreword

A hundred years have passed since the writing of China’s first
constitution. 2008 also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the
promulgation of the /Universal Declaration of Human Rights/, the
thirtieth anniversary of the appearance of the Democracy Wall in
Beijing, and the tenth of China’s signing of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights. We are approaching the twentieth
anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy student
protesters. The Chinese people, who have endured human rights disasters
and uncountable struggles across these same years, now include many who
see clearly that freedom, equality, and human rights are universal
values of humankind and that democracy and constitutional government are
the fundamental framework for protecting these values.

By departing from these values, the Chinese government’s approach to
“modernization” has proven disastrous. It has stripped people of their
rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse.
So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century? Will it
continue with “modernization” under authoritarian rule, or will it
embrace universal human values, join the mainstream of civilized
nations, and build a democratic system? There can be no avoiding these
questions.

The shock of the Western impact upon China in the nineteenth century
laid bare a decadent authoritarian system and marked the beginning of
what is often called “the greatest changes in thousands of years” for
China. A “self-strengthening movement” followed, but this aimed simply
at appropriating the technology to build gunboats and other Western
material objects. China’s humiliating naval defeat at the hands of Japan
in 1895 only confirmed the obsolescence of China’s system of government.
The first attempts at modern political change came with the ill-fated
summer of reforms in 1898, but these were cruelly crushed by
ultraconservatives at China’s imperial court. With the revolution of
1911, which inaugurated Asia’s first republic, the authoritarian
imperial system that had lasted for centuries was finally supposed to
have been laid to rest. But social conflict inside our country and
external pressures were to prevent it; China fell into a patchwork of
warlord fiefdoms and the new republic became a fleeting dream.

The failure of both “self- strengthening” and political renovation
caused many of our forebears to reflect deeply on whether a “cultural
illness” was afflicting our country. This mood gave rise, during the May
Fourth Movement of the late 1910s, to the championing of “science and
democracy.” Yet that effort, too, foundered as warlord chaos persisted
and the Japanese invasion [beginning in Manchuria in 1931] brought
national crisis.

Victory over Japan in 1945 offered one more chance for China to move
toward modern government, but the Communist defeat of the Nationalists
in the civil war thrust the nation into the abyss of totalitarianism.
The “new China” that emerged in 1949 proclaimed that “the people are
sovereign” but in fact set up a system in which “the Party is
all-powerful.”

The Communist Party of China seized control of all organs
of the state and all political, economic, and social resources, and,
using these, has produced a long trail of human rights disasters,
including, among many others, the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957), the
Great Leap Forward (1958–1960), the Cultural Revolution (1966–1969), the
June Fourth [Tiananmen Square] Massacre (1989), and the current
repression of all unauthorized religions and the suppression of the
/weiquan/ rights movement [a movement that aims to defend citizens’
rights promulgated in the Chinese Constitution and to fight for human
rights recognized by international conventions that the Chinese
government has signed]. During all this, the Chinese people have paid a
gargantuan price. Tens of millions have lost their lives, and several
generations have seen their freedom, their happiness, and their human
dignity cruelly trampled.

During the last two decades of the twentieth century the government
policy of “Reform and Opening” gave the Chinese people relief from the
pervasive poverty and totalitarianism of the Mao Zedong era, and brought
substantial increases in the wealth and living standards of many Chinese
as well as a partial restoration of economic freedom and economic
rights. Civil society began to grow, and popular calls for more rights
and more political freedom have grown apace. As the ruling elite itself
moved toward private ownership and the market economy, it began to shift
from an outright rejection of “rights” to a partial acknowledgment of them.

In 1998 the Chinese government signed two important international human
rights conventions; in 2004 it amended its constitution to include the
phrase “respect and protect human rights”; and this year, 2008, it has
promised to promote a “national human rights action plan.” Unfortunately
most of this political progress has extended no further than the paper
on which it is written. The political reality, which is plain for anyone
to see, is that China has many laws but no rule of law; it has a
constitution but no constitutional government. The ruling elite
continues to cling to its authoritarian power and fights off any move
toward political change.

The stultifying results are endemic official corruption, an undermining
of the rule of law, weak human rights, decay in public ethics, crony
capitalism, growing inequality between the wealthy and the poor, pillage
of the natural environment as well as of the human and historical
environments, and the exacerbation of a long list of social conflicts,
especially, in recent times, a sharpening animosity between officials
and ordinary people.

As these conflicts and crises grow ever more intense, and as the ruling
elite continues with impunity to crush and to strip away the rights of
citizens to freedom, to property, and to the pursuit of happiness, we
see the powerless in our society—the vulnerable groups, the people who
have been suppressed and monitored, who have suffered cruelty and even
torture, and who have had no adequate avenues for their protests, no
courts to hear their pleas—becoming more militant and raising the
possibility of a violent conflict of disastrous proportions. The decline
of the current system has reached the point where change is no longer
optional.


II. Our Fundamental Principles

This is a historic moment for China, and our future hangs in the
balance. In reviewing the political modernization process of the past
hundred years or more, we reiterate and endorse basic universal values
as follows:

/Freedom/. Freedom is at the core of universal human values. Freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of
association, freedom in where to live, and the freedoms to strike, to
demonstrate, and to protest, among others, are the forms that freedom
takes. Without freedom, China will always remain far from civilized ideals.

/Human rights./ Human rights are not bestowed by a state. Every person
is born with inherent rights to dignity and freedom. The government
exists for the protection of the human rights of its citizens. The
exercise of state power must be authorized by the people. The succession
of political disasters in China’s recent history is a direct consequence
of the ruling regime’s disregard for human rights.

/Equality./ The integrity, dignity, and freedom of every
person—regardless of social station, occupation, sex, economic
condition, ethnicity, skin color, religion, or political belief—are the
same as those of any other. Principles of equality before the law and
equality of social, economic, cultural, civil, and political rights must
be upheld.

/Republicanism./ Republicanism, which holds that power should be
balanced among different branches of government and competing interests
should be served, resembles the traditional Chinese political ideal of
“fairness in all under heaven.” It allows different interest groups and
social assemblies, and people with a variety of cultures and beliefs, to
exercise democratic self-government and to deliberate in order to reach
peaceful resolution of public questions on a basis of equal access to
government and free and fair competition.

/Democracy./ The most fundamental principles of democracy are that the
people are sovereign and the people select their government. Democracy
has these characteristics: (1) Political power begins with the people
and the legitimacy of a regime derives from the people. (2) Political
power is exercised through choices that the people make. (3) The holders
of major official posts in government at all levels are determined
through periodic competitive elections. (4) While honoring the will of
the majority, the fundamental dignity, freedom, and human rights of
minorities are protected. In short, democracy is a modern means for
achieving government truly “of the people, by the people, and for the
people.”

/Constitutional rule./ Constitutional rule is rule through a legal
system and legal regulations to implement principles that are spelled
out in a constitution. It means protecting the freedom and the rights of
citizens, limiting and defining the scope of legitimate government
power, and providing the administrative apparatus necessary to serve
these ends.


III. What We Advocate

Authoritarianism is in general decline throughout the world; in China,
too, the era of emperors and overlords is on the way out. The time is
arriving everywhere for citizens to be masters of states. For China the
path that leads out of our current predicament is to divest ourselves of
the authoritarian notion of reliance on an “enlightened overlord” or an
“honest official” and to turn instead toward a system of liberties,
democracy, and the rule of law, and toward fostering the consciousness
of modern citizens who see rights as fundamental and participation as a
duty. Accordingly, and in a spirit of this duty as responsible and
constructive citizens, we offer the following recommendations on
national governance, citizens’ rights, and social development:

1.

/A New Constitution./ We should recast our present constitution,
rescinding its provisions that contradict the principle that
sovereignty resides with the people and turning it into a document
that genuinely guarantees human rights, authorizes the exercise of
public power, and serves as the legal underpinning of China’s
democratization. The constitution must be the highest law in the
land, beyond violation by any individual, group, or political party.

2.

/Separation of Powers./ We should construct a modern government in
which the separation of legislative, judicial, and executive power
is guaranteed. We need an Administrative Law that defines the scope
of government responsibility and prevents abuse of administrative
power. Government should be responsible to taxpayers. Division of
power between provincial governments and the central government
should adhere to the principle that central powers are only those
specifically granted by the constitution and all other powers belong
to the local governments.

3.

/Legislative Democracy/. Members of legislative bodies at all levels
should be chosen by direct election, and legislative democracy
should observe just and impartial principles.

4.

/An Independent Judiciary./ The rule of law must be above the
interests of any particular political party and judges must be
independent. We need to establish a constitutional supreme court and
institute procedures for constitutional review. As soon as possible,
we should abolish all of the Committees on Political and Legal
Affairs that now allow Communist Party officials at every level to
decide politically sensitive cases in advance and out of court. We
should strictly forbid the use of public offices for private purposes.

5.

/Public Control of Public Servants./ The military should be made
answerable to the national government, not to a political party, and
should be made more professional. Military personnel should swear
allegiance to the constitution and remain nonpartisan. Political
party organizations must be prohibited in the military. All public
officials including police should serve as nonpartisans, and the
current practice of favoring one political party in the hiring of
public servants must end.

6.

/Guarantee of Human Rights./ There must be strict guarantees of
human rights and respect for human dignity. There should be a Human
Rights Committee, responsible to the highest legislative body, that
will prevent the government from abusing public power in violation
of human rights. A democratic and constitutional China especially
must guarantee the personal freedom of citizens. No one should
suffer illegal arrest, detention, arraignment, interrogation, or
punishment. The system of “Reeducation through Labor” must be
abolished.

7.

/Election of Public Officials./ There should be a comprehensive
system of democratic elections based on “one person, one vote.” The
direct election of administrative heads at the levels of county,
city, province, and nation should be systematically implemented. The
rights to hold periodic free elections and to participate in them as
a citizen are inalienable.

8.

/Rural–Urban Equality./ The two-tier household registry system must
be abolished. This system favors urban residents and harms rural
residents. We should establish instead a system that gives every
citizen the same constitutional rights and the same freedom to
choose where to live.

9.

/Freedom to Form Groups./ The right of citizens to form groups must
be guaranteed. The current system for registering nongovernment
groups, which requires a group to be “approved,” should be replaced
by a system in which a group simply registers itself. The formation
of political parties should be governed by the constitution and the
laws, which means that we must abolish the special privilege of one
party to monopolize power and must guarantee principles of free and
fair competition among political parties.

10.

/Freedom to Assemble./ The constitution provides that peaceful
assembly, demonstration, protest, and freedom of expression are
fundamental rights of a citizen. The ruling party and the government
must not be permitted to subject these to illegal interference or
unconstitutional obstruction.

11.

/Freedom of Expression./ We should make freedom of speech, freedom
of the press, and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing
that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of
political supervision. These freedoms should be upheld by a Press
Law that abolishes political restrictions on the press. The
provision in the current Criminal Law that refers to “the crime of
incitement to subvert state power” must be abolished. We should end
the practice of viewing words as crimes.

12.

/Freedom of Religion./ We must guarantee freedom of religion and
belief, and institute a separation of religion and state. There must
be no governmental interference in peaceful religious activities. We
should abolish any laws, regulations, or local rules that limit or
suppress the religious freedom of citizens. We should abolish the
current system that requires religious groups (and their places of
worship) to get official approval in advance and substitute for it a
system in which registry is optional and, for those who choose to
register, automatic.

13.

/Civic Education/. In our schools we should abolish political
curriculums and examinations that are designed to indoctrinate
students in state ideology and to instill support for the rule of
one party. We should replace them with civic education that advances
universal values and citizens’ rights, fosters civic consciousness,
and promotes civic virtues that serve society.

14.

/Protection of Private Property./ We should establish and protect
the right to private property and promote an economic system of free
and fair markets. We should do away with government monopolies in
commerce and industry and guarantee the freedom to start new
enterprises. We should establish a Committee on State-Owned
Property, reporting to the national legislature, that will monitor
the transfer of state-owned enterprises to private ownership in a
fair, competitive, and orderly manner. We should institute a land
reform that promotes private ownership of land, guarantees the right
to buy and sell land, and allows the true value of private property
to be adequately reflected in the market.

15.

/Financial and Tax Reform/. We should establish a democratically
regulated and accountable system of public finance that ensures the
protection of taxpayer rights and that operates through legal
procedures. We need a system by which public revenues that belong to
a certain level of government—central, provincial, county or
local—are controlled at that level. We need major tax reform that
will abolish any unfair taxes, simplify the tax system, and spread
the tax burden fairly. Government officials should not be able to
raise taxes, or institute new ones, without public deliberation and
the approval of a democratic assembly. We should reform the
ownership system in order to encourage competition among a wider
variety of market participants.

16.

/Social Security/. We should establish a fair and adequate social
security system that covers all citizens and ensures basic access to
education, health care, retirement security, and employment.

17.

/Protection of the Environment./ We need to protect the natural
environment and to promote development in a way that is sustainable
and responsible to our descendants and to the rest of humanity. This
means insisting that the state and its officials at all levels not
only do what they must do to achieve these goals, but also accept
the supervision and participation of nongovernmental organizations.

18.

/A Federated Republic./ A democratic China should seek to act as a
responsible major power contributing toward peace and development in
the Asian Pacific region by approaching others in a spirit of
equality and fairness. In Hong Kong and Macao, we should support the
freedoms that already exist. With respect to Taiwan, we should
declare our commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy
and then, negotiating as equals and ready to compromise, seek a
formula for peaceful unification. We should approach disputes in the
national-minority areas of China with an open mind, seeking ways to
find a workable framework within which all ethnic and religious
groups can flourish. We should aim ultimately at a federation of
democratic communities of China.

19.

/Truth in Reconciliation./ We should restore the reputations of all
people, including their family members, who suffered political
stigma in the political campaigns of the past or who have been
labeled as criminals because of their thought, speech, or faith. The
state should pay reparations to these people. All political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience must be released. There should
be a Truth Investigation Commission charged with finding the facts
about past injustices and atrocities, determining responsibility for
them, upholding justice, and, on these bases, seeking social
reconciliation.

China, as a major nation of the world, as one of five permanent members
of the United Nations Security Council, and as a member of the UN
Council on Human Rights, should be contributing to peace for humankind
and progress toward human rights. Unfortunately, we stand today as the
only country among the major nations that remains mired in authoritarian
politics. Our political system continues to produce human rights
disasters and social crises, thereby not only constricting China’s own
development but also limiting the progress of all of human civilization.
This must change, truly it must. The democratization of Chinese politics
can be put off no longer.

Accordingly, we dare to put civic spirit into practice by announcing
Charter 08. We hope that our fellow citizens who feel a similar sense of
crisis, responsibility, and mission, whether they are inside the
government or not, and regardless of their social status, will set aside
small differences to embrace the broad goals of this citizens’ movement.
Together we can work for major changes in Chinese society and for the
rapid establishment of a free, democratic, and constitutional country.
We can bring to reality the goals and ideals that our people have
incessantly been seeking for more than a hundred years, and can bring a
brilliant new chapter to Chinese civilization.