A Critical Analysis of Several Legal Proposals by Zhu Zhengfu, Deputy to the National Peopleʹs Congress of China：Reflections Grounded in Marxist Jurisprudence and the Comprehensive National Security Outlook

Abstract

In recent years, Zhu Zhengfu, a deputy to the National People's Congress, has consistently advocated for issues such as ‘abolishing the crime of provoking trouble’, ‘sealing minor criminal records’, and ‘sealing public security violation records for drug use’. His proposals have generated significant influence in both public discourse and legislative debates. On the surface, these proposals appear to champion ‘rights protection’ and ‘humanitarian concerns.’ However, when re-examined within the frameworks of Marxist jurisprudence, Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and the overall national security outlook, they reveal a series of concerning issues in their logical structure, value orientation, and security perspective. This paper, while clarifying online rumours and adhering to factual foundations, focuses solely on Zhu Zhengfu's publicly available and verifiable legal propositions for analysis. It critiques these from three dimensions: logical reasoning, national security implications, and ideological roots. Furthermore, it proposes a tiered reform pathway for optimising the crime of provoking trouble and the systems governing prior convictions and records under the comprehensive national security outlook. The article contends that several of Zhu Zhengfu's assertions exhibit dualistic reasoning in logic, display pronounced formal liberal rights-centrism in values, and underestimate systemic risks within complex social structures in security perspectives. His discourse system is highly isomorphic with Western legal liberalism, creating significant tension with the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Subjecting the rule-of-law discourse of NPC deputies to public scrutiny from the perspectives of the people's stance and national security is essential to upholding the people's congress system and the overall national security outlook.

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