Comparative Law

Again, the differences in the ability to engage a legal system are stark and increasing. I again ask investors with regards to holding Paper Dragon assets: What, precisely, do you own? What contractual rights are protected under any agreements or covenants at your disposal? What are the rules of divestiture to ensure a safe and orderly disposition of your assets?

The high-speed rail disaster has only confirmed my own suspicions about the above. China, one must be reminded, is no-where near a free country.

WENZHOU, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The judicial bureau of Wenzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province has apologized for a statement that told lawyers not to "unauthorizedly" handle cases involving last Saturday's deadly bullet train collision.
The judicial authorities apologized to the public for its "lax supervision" over the Wenzhou Lawyers' Association, which allegedly issued the order arbitrarily, according to an apology statement posted on a local official news website on Thursday.
On Tuesday, law firms in the city received an "urgent statement" issued under the names of the Wenzhou Judicial Bureau and the Wenzhou Lawyers' Association.
The statement asked lawyers to "report to the judicial bureau and lawyers' association immediately after the injured passengers and families of the deceased in the accident come for legal help," and said lawyers "shouldn't unauthorizedly respond and handle the cases," because "the accident is a major sensitive issue concerning social stability."
The statement immediately aroused public anger after being exposed by netizens.
In response to the criticism, the judicial bureau accused the lawyers' association of using the bureau's name to issue Tuesday's statement without authorization.

and also from this source:

And the clampdown has begun.

According to leaked directives from the propaganda department on Friday: "All articles on the Wenzhou train collision are to be put off the homepage with immediate effect. None are to be put on the homepage itself. In the news section, only one article may be placed there, but no commentaries are allowed. Promoting the discussion of related topics on forums, blogs and microblogs are not allowed. Forum sites are to remove all previously promoted articles and blogposts off from the frontpage and mini-sites immediately. All posts, blogposts and microblog posts that do not meet with the requirements of this afternoon's orders are to be resolutely deleted. All sites are to implement this order with immediate effect, and to complete execution within half an hour. Checks will begin within half an hour."