The Chinese Communist Party is still doing wrong by Chen Guangcheng:

BEIJING, Nov. 27 — The retrial of a blind legal activist kicked off
in eastern Shandong province Monday, but not without some of the same
courtroom tumult that characterized his first trial, which was widely
denounced by human rights advocates, lawyers said.

Chen
Guangcheng, who embarrassed officials last year by exposing forced
abortions and sterilizations, was convicted in August of disrupting
traffic and damaging property during a village protest. A Chinese court
earlier this month granted a retrial, citing a lack of evidence from
the prosecution.

Chen’s case, however, suffered another setback Monday, according to
his attorneys, one of whom stormed out of the courtroom in protest.
Three defense witnesses disappeared before the trial, the attorneys
said, marking the second time Chen’s allies were unable to speak on his
behalf. On the eve of his first trial, the defense team was detained by
police and accused of petty theft.

     Chen is obviously trying to do the right thing, defending poor and powerless people against tyrannical abuses of state power.  He is, in fact, doing exactly what Communist Party leaders say should be done: enacting the rule of law and instilling a sense of justice that will contribute to a "harmonious society."

     But, instead of welcoming Chen’s hard work and good intentions, the Party harasses him and those who help him.  Disappearing defense witnesses: the act of pathetic third world dictators.   How can anyone have any confidence in the Chinese legal system when such abusive travesties are carried out in the name of defending local Party bosses?

     If the Party could give up its Leninist obsession with absolute political control, and embrace a Mencian governing philosophy, they would see the good of Chen’s work. 

     Mencius reminds us that the powerful should protect the powerless.  In one passage he describes the "forsaken ones of this world," which for his time included elders without children, orphans, widows and widowers.  And he said: "When Emperor Wen’s rule spread Humanity throughout the land, he put these four kinds of people above all else." (29).  Wen, often referred to as King Wen, was the legendary founder of the Zhou dynasty, one of the "true emperors."

     It is not much of a stretch to say that now, in our times, the "forsaken ones" include precisely those people that Chen is trying to defend: poor women trying to fend off despotic local officials (forced abortions are prohibited under Chinese law).

    But the Party cannot give up its Leninism, counterproductive as it may be.  There may be a ray of hope here, however.  For the people who are witnessing the "trial," the injustice is obvious:

Despite the setbacks, Chen’s attorneys said, there were moments during
the nearly 10-hour proceedings Monday that gave them small reason to
hope. Spectators, even though they were government employees, sometimes
hissed at the prosecutors.

    If more cadres hissed, perhaps justice could be done.

   Free Chen Guangcheng!