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F. Time Limit for Claiming Compensation
Generally, the time limit for claimants to claim state compensation is two years. The SCL provides that claimants should file their claim for state compensation within two years from the date when the court finds the actions of the relevant government body and their staff in performing their duties as unlawful, not including the days of detention.
G. State Compensation with Foreign-Related Elements
The state compensation system as established under the SCL also applies to foreign individuals, enterprises, and organizations within the territory of the People’s Republic of China. If the home country of the foreign individual, enterprise, or organization, however, does not protect or restrains the rights to state compensation of Chinese individuals, enterprises, or organizations within that country, the People’s Republic of China will reciprocate that policy toward individuals, enterprises, or organizations of that country.
Recently, a significant part of the practice has involved state compensation with foreign-related elements.
IV. Concluding Remarks: A Cry for Future Reforms
The legal principle of “suing the sovereign” in China, as summarized above, reveals the ambivalence of the government and contending social-political values in the context of state-individual relationship in this country. In the past two decades, the government initiated and manipulated all legal reforms, and the development of a state compensation system is no exception. In this context, the establishment and improvement of state compensation system revealed the desire and efforts of the government to adapt itself to the changing social and political situations and to reinforce the legitimacy of its governance. At the same time, the current state compensation system also reveals the hesitation and anxiety of the government, as evident in the substantial limits of individuals’ right to state compensation, including the scope of state compensation, unreasonably low standards for compensation, the problem of judicial independence, and the like. If we agree that the state compensation system must go beyond mere symbolism, those problems that are plaguing this system both in theory and in practice must be treated seriously.
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