Three years ago, some Chinese lawyers were held accountable for zealously fomenting political confrontation by inciting illegal gathering. The West has since been tarnishing China’s governance in this respect and meanwhile glorifying the unlawful acts of these people, causing a new frontline for conflicting values between China and the West.

Some Western countries’ embassies in China recently commented on social networks or even acted in support of the lawyers. Western countries have insistently accused China of infiltration and interference, while at the same time practicing it on China’s internal affairs.

Many people still remember that after the shooting incident at the Qing’an county railway station in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province in May 2015, a few lawyers instigated locals to create a public disturbance and tried to subvert power of the state, both of which are illegal.

In recent years some people in China, obsessed with Western-styled political governance, have preached that China should copy the Western model completely and even put it into practice. They publicized their beliefs on social networks and conducted political mobilization during times of public conflict, going against the basic spirit of the Constitution. Some lawyers attempted to misinterpret the Constitution with Western legal thinking and thus morally justify their activities and boycotts. They have therefore become the loyal allies of some Western forces.

Many people instinctively felt such practices cannot work in China since it challenges China’s fundamental order, inviting high legal stakes. But these lawyers had a fantasy that they would be protected by the West.

They ended up proving that one must pay a price for going too far and sugarcoating illegal actions as struggles for constitutionalism.

China’s experiences since the reform and opening-up have proven that the country’s social development cannot be realized through creating conflicts. China has been staunchly committed to safeguarding the interests of its people, but it’s a complicated process to realize the commitment of all Chinese citizens.

In terms of methodology, it’s easy to follow the West and conduct political confrontation in Chinese society while seeking Western support. This takes just guts and luck.

Yet what China needs indeed is to materialize governance under socialism with Chinese characteristics at all levels creatively. We need to prevent Western political governance elements from penetrating into China and in the process refrain from overly controlling society and killing dynamic spirit. It will be a major undertaking for China to keep expanding opportunities for society thus enabling the advancement of talent and wisdom of the Chinese people.

China has to make efforts in this direction to neither dilapidate social governance nor stifle internal vitality with simplistic and rigid governance. This heralds an arduous task.

A few radical lawyers have seriously disturbed such a proposition by China and pushed society to be more vigilant. They were not promoting China’s progress, rather sabotaging it.

China’s social development must help consolidate unity under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and allow it to formulate an enabling mechanism. This has to be done within the constitutional framework. The whole society must be clearly aware of it.