News

 

Chinese turn to White House website for help with petitions

 

The official website of the White House has received online petitions from Chinese Web users demanding the US government look into their demands, as they look to foreign entities to exert pressure and voice their concerns with the lengthy and sometimes ineffective petition process at home.

Cold case petition grabs US attention

Student's poisoning death stirs debate

Zhu's Case

The case

1994	Zhu suffered severe brain damage after being poisoned by thallium.
	Case has remained unsolved
2013	Zhu’s case once again surfaced in online discussion after a postgraduate student was poisoned and died at Shanghai's Fudan University.
	A petition on the White House website calling for Sun's deportation already has hundreds of thousands of signatures.

Questions

The public is asking the police to fulfill their duty to inform the public and respond to the following:

 Why has Zhu's case remained unsolved for the past 19 years?
 What evidence did the police have?
 What stopped the investigation?
 Is it true police felt they were close? Who was the suspect then?
 Why did the police resist requests from Zhu's family to make details of her case public?
 What does the statement "circumstances involving laws and regulations not to be made public" mean?
 Was there any interference in the case?
 
Source: Xinhua

Commentary

On whether officials should respond

Global Times editorial
Obviously, it is impossible for officials to respond to every question, but we believe that officials should come forward to respond to Zhu's case and satisfy the public via information disclosure.

The crux of the problem in Zhu's case lies in the unsuccessful communication between officials and the people involved.

Xinhua News Agency
The police maintain their silence despite accusations of injustice and rumors over the past 20 years. As a result, it seems every citizen has become Sherlock Holmes overnight, something that is both unfair to the victim Zhu and the suspect Sun.

 On the case's impact 

Southern Metropolis Daily
Zhu's case is not just a forgotten poisoning, but one that triggered concern in China and abroad. As outcry from the public to reopen the case increases, not only does this disrupt the lives of those involved, but also challenges the image of the Chinese judicial system.

Though investigations cannot proceed without judicial approval, one thing for sure is Beijing police cannot keep silent anymore and must take action. Regardless the outcome, reopening Zhu's case will be a great help to Zhu, prime suspect Sun Wei and the police.

  On people's attitude towards Sun

New Express
Many were misled to believe the suspect guilty because of the opaque Chinese judicial system. A country that governs by law does not mean that it allows citizens who have no legal right to pass judgment online, but it should advocate judicial transparency. Those practicing law must assume innocence until proven guilty and not let this principle be abused online.

Yunnan Info Daily
Controversy surrounding Zhu Ling's case has escalated thanks to online debate, which unfortunately often oversimplifies the issue and omits crucial details. In this case, we see Zhu as a victim while people pass judgment and victimize the prime suspect Sun Wei before any verdict is handed down. In the name of justice, we should offer our sympathies to Zhu while protecting Sun's legal rights.

On the White House petition

Global Times editorial
The White House cannot be the foreign "petition office" of China. However, embarrassments in the Internet age need not be covered up. We have our problems, and we will do our best to solve them.

21cn.com
The White House website is just a forum open to American citizens and not a channel for governance. But in Zhu's case, instead of being overly optimistic about online petitioning, we should instead expect more from our domestic judicial system.

Other Cases

1997 Peking University, Beijing
Two students survived being poisoned by their classmate with thallium.
Classmate sentenced to 10 years in prison.

 2007 China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu
Three students survived being poisoned by their friend.
Friend never tried because of psychological disorder.

 2010 Dujiangyan Business School, Sichuan
 A student died of thallium poisoning.

 2013 Fudan University, Shanghai
A student died of being poisoned with N-Nitrosodimethylamine.
Suspect detained