Justice Department: Lawyer Must Pledge Allegiance to the Party

The Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China issued an ordinance that all practicing lawyers must pledge allegiance to the Communist Party before entering the field.

The ordinance specified that new lawyers who passed the qualify examination and those who were readmitted must take the pledge within three months at places arranged by local Justice Bureaus.

The pledge includes, among others, 'I support the Communist Party's ruling'.

Lawyers Must Follow the Party

Aiying Wu, the Minister of Justice request lawyers to follow the Party. She gave the talk at a provincial head of justice department meeting on August 6, 2009.

Minister Wu stated, lawyers must firmly obey leadership of the Party, and follow the correct political direction. She emphasized the importance of establishing Party organizations in all law firms.

By this time, among 140,000 law firms in mainland China, 3895 has build-in Party organization; 8075 firms share combined 2692 Party organizations. Appointees or liaisons have been appointed to each of the rest 2741 firms. Every law firm in China is under the direct and firm control of the Party.

Lawyer Xiaoyuan Liu questioned the legality of Wu's talk in his blog. Liu argued Liu's talk was contradictive to the Lawyer Code of the PRC.

Wu, born in 1951 and taking office in 2005, is the second women Justice Minister in China.