Professor He Jiahong addresses the Körber Foundation in Germany
2014.05.14
Professor He Jiahong of Renmin Law School visited Germany from May 5-8, giving an academic address at the invitation of the Körber Foundation.
On May 6, Prof. He Jiahong spoke on the topic ‘Chinese anti-corruption strategy: a scholar’s view’. He discussed Chinese anti-corruption in the history of Chinese legal development.
Prof. He analyzed the character of Chinese corruption, and identified three strategic transfers of anti-corruption: from political learning to legal regulation, from punishing a few corrupt officials to punishing all the corrupt cases, and from punishing corruption in the past to preventing that in the future.
In the questions afterwards, audience members asked questions about Chinese political system reform. Prof. He won applause and laughter with his sincere and humorous answers.
On the morning of May 7, Prof. He was interviewed by Adrian Kummer, Chief Editor of 21China, the only German magazine devoted exclusively to Chinese issues. The interview included Prof. He’s life experience, literature creation, legal research, discussions of Chinese corruption and anti-corruption, and judicial system reforms.
Later that evening, Prof. He attended a banquet held by Nora Müller, Program Director for the International Affairs Department of the Körber Foundation, and made a speech on Chinese social problems and legal system developments. Drawing from his own experience, he talked about the Cultural Revolution in China, and developments in the legal system afterwards.
Prof. He claimed that the common trend of human society was democracy and rule of law. China, he said, needs to focus on rule of law before democracy. Chinese people should get used to respecting the Constitution and obeying the rules to promote rule of law law. Government should guarantee their rights to know, rights to express and rights to vote to promote democracy, He said.
The Körber Foundation was founded in Hamburg in 1959. The foundation is committed to promoting international communication and cooperation in Education, Science and Culture.
In March 2014, President Xi Jinping was invited to make a speech at the foundation during his visit to Germany. He expressed his appreciation to the foundation for the contribution it had made to promote the understanding between China and Europe.