| The correspondence rights clause in the current Chinese Constitution presents a two-tiered structure, which creates constitutional protection not in the form of simple and aggravated legal reservations, but in the form of general and special constitutional protection. Freedom of correspondence and confidentiality of correspondence are intertwined and inseparable in content and, as a whole, they are both important means of realizing the freedom of expression and embodying the State’s respect for and protection of citizens’ right to privacy. Affirmative general constitutional protection and prohibitive special constitutional protection are with different functional focus, and provide graded and dynamic protection for the freedom and confidentiality of correspondence. Prohibitive special constitutional protection is directed against forms of interference with correspondence rights that are invasive in nature. The Constitution establishes three legal conditions of correspondence examination in relation to the typical form of interference, which constitute a relative prohibition. In the constitutional review of other means of interference with correspondence rights, the three legal conditions of correspondence examination are of reference value. For the more serious forms of interference in correspondence rights, a review standard no less strict than the three legal conditions of correspondence examination should be set, and for the relatively moderate forms of interference, a standard of constitutional protection no less strict than “protection by law” should be applied. |
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