Volume 49, Number 14 · September 26, 2002
Taking Rights Seriously in Beijing
By Ronald Dworkin
Last May I was invited to China for two weeks, first to take part in a two-day conference at the law school of Tsinghua University in Beijing, and then to give several public lectures there and in other cities. The Tsinghua conference was arranged by the university's Research Center for the Rule of Law and Human Rights, and there and at all the other lectures and meetings I was asked to discuss legality, human rights, and democracy. (The university in Hangzhou suggested, as the title of my lecture there, 'Taking Human Rights Seriously.') Since I have for many years published my views in defense of civil and political liberties, I was puzzled to be asked to speak on these subjects. China's record of ignoring the rule of law, suppressing democracy, and systematically violating human rights is notorious, and the universities, like every other Chinese institution, are in the end under the ruling Communist Party's control.
Feature, 3351 words
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