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July 17, 2018

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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views

Pay up your debts

ACCORDING to thepaper.cn, a man surnamed Rao in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, refused to follow a ruling that ordered him to repay loans of 200,000 yuan from a local bank.

It happened that just when the man’s son was expected to join a prestigious Beijing university this month, the university called Rao saying unless he repaid the loans his son would be rejected. Rao paid up immediately, which shows that he was quite capable of repaying the debt. Previously, there have been various measures to urge debtors to comply with court-ordered payments. For instance, the Supreme People’s Court would draw up periodically a blacklist of “dishonest people.” Their personal information, including names and identity card numbers, are displayed on government websites.

Defaulters are also restricted from traveling by plane or bullet trains, booking luxury hotels or buying property. But a die-hard defaulter can choose to ignore all these. Some dodged restrictions by choosing other means of transportation.

There has even been a case in which a defaulter had undergone plastic surgery to evade detection.

Predictably, using the son as a pawn to exact payment of loans would necessarily lead to controversy whether the son should be held responsible for the father’s mistake. Such controversy, however, should not be allowed to distract the legislature from devising effective means to help instill citizens with some respect for laws.




 

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