Although Mount Mabie has been famous since ancient times, it lags behind Caohai, Bai Caoping, Zhuo Pu, and Shimenkan in the timeline of tourism resource promotion by the Weining County government. In Weining County's "General Tourism Development Plan," the tourism resource grade evaluation of Mount Mabie is also lower than that of Caohai and Bai Caoping. Apparently, Mount Mabie was not very prominent in the eyes of the Weining County government before. However, in 2008, Ma Cunqun from Yange Village at the foot of Mount Mabie and Ma Mincan from Gali Village at the foot of Mount Mabie saw on TV news and newspapers that the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and provincial government as well as Bijie Prefecture Party Committee and administrative office were giving great attention to the development of rural tourism. Thus, they jointly decided to invite Ma Bofang, who was enthusiastic about the tourism industry, to form the original shareholders and registered the establishment of Weining Wumeng Mountain Tourism Development Co., Ltd. on May 22, 2008.
In June 2008, our company compiled the "Feasibility Study Report on the Development of the Mabie Mountain Tourism Project" (also serving as a project proposal). On August 19, 2008, our company signed the "Agreement on the Ecological Protection and Tourism Development of Mount Mabie" with Magua Township Government and the village committees surrounding Mount Mabie.
At the end of August 2008, our company submitted an "Application for the Development of Scenic Spots and Tourist Products at Mount Mabie" to the Weining County Tourism Bureau. In early September 2008, Secretary Qin Rupeng of the Bijie Prefecture Party Committee came to Mount Mabie for inspection and had lunch at Yitian Garden. He was accompanied by Secretary Wang Bingrong of the Weining County Party Committee and County Chief Wu Xuejun. Our company manager, Ma Bofang, presented the "Feasibility Study Report on the Development of the Mabie Mountain Tourism Project" to Secretary Qin. On September 10, 2008, relevant department heads of the Weining County Tourism Development Committee held a special meeting regarding the development of Mount Mabie. On September 19, 2008, Deputy County Chief Fang Honglin in charge of tourism convened the heads of the government office, forestry bureau, land resources bureau, animal husbandry bureau, environmental protection bureau, water conservation office, Magua Township, and tourism bureau to inspect Mount Mabie. After unanimous approval through the on-site office meeting, they agreed to allow our company to develop scenic spots at Mount Mabie and tourist products reflecting the local natural ethnic characteristics. On September 22, 2008, our application to the Weining County Tourism Bureau was officially approved.
In November 2008, to protect the natural ecology and landscape of the core area of Mount Mabie and prohibit villagers from cutting down ancient trees and opening up farmland, our company conducted a boundary survey of the core scenic area of Mount Mabie. Between the vegetation slopes and farmland of Yangeqing Village, Gali Village, Songmukan Village, and Jingyan Village, we planted 500 boundary markers over more than 20 kilometers, officially initiating ecological management of Mount Mabie with an investment of 100,000 yuan.
From May to August 2009, our company leased 40 mu of land (for a lease period of 50 years) from the village committee and villagers at locations such as Dapo Gou east of the entrance to Yange New Village, the foot of Mount Mabie behind Yange New Village, and Diaoshuiyan in Tangshang Village in Gali Village. This land was intended for planning the "Visitor Information Service Center" and "Comprehensive Visitor Service Reception Area," as well as parking for large events during folk traditional festivals and activities in the Mount Mabie tourism area. The land transfer fee and foundation leveling cost amounted to 500,000 yuan.
In August 2009, our company constructed a 3-kilometer earth road base from Yange New Village to the hot air balloon base of Mount Mabie according to the planned route, investing more than 90,000 yuan.
From August 2008 to August 2009, our company paid two years of contracted operation fees amounting to 10,000 yuan to Magua Township.
Since 2008, our company has invested over 200,000 yuan in office equipment for contracting and developing ecological tourism at Mount Mabie, investigating and promoting the scenic spots of Mount Mabie, managing and cleaning garbage, paying employee salaries, vehicle use, and hospitality expenses.
To date, our company has spent 900,000 yuan in the process of investing in and developing Mount Mabie.
On the afternoon of November 16, 2009, Deputy Secretary Chen Bo of the Weining County Party Committee and acting county chief presided over a county chief's office meeting at the first meeting room of the county government, specifically studying urban construction work. With the reason of "ensuring the smooth progress of applying for Mount Mabie to become a provincial and national scenic spot," the agreement between our company and the Magua Township Government regarding the development of Mount Mabie and the approval documents from the county tourism bureau regarding our company's development of Mount Mabie were abolished.
However, our company believes that the continued validity of the agreement between our company and the Magua Township Government and the approval documents from the tourism bureau does not hinder the application for Mount Mabie to become a provincial and national scenic spot. Clearly, the actions of Director Chen lack sufficient reasonable grounds and factual basis and violate relevant laws and regulations as well as the spirit of speeches by leaders of the provincial party committee, provincial government, and prefecture committee regarding the development of rural tourism. The specific statements are as follows:
1. Violation of the following provisions of the "Guizhou Province Tourism Management Regulations":
(1) Article 5: County-level or higher people's governments should encourage and support the development of the tourism industry, encourage domestic units, individuals, and foreign investors to legally invest in the development of tourism resources, and legally protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors.
(2) Article 16: Encourage and support the development of distinctive tourism in ethnic minority areas and economically underdeveloped areas.
(3) Article 19: Organizations and individuals who have made contributions to the development of the tourism industry shall be commended and rewarded by county-level or higher people's governments.
(4) The legitimate rights and interests of tourism operators are protected by law, and no organization or individual may infringe upon them.
2. Violation of the spirit of speeches by leaders of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and provincial government regarding tourism development.
Secretary Shi Zongyuan of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee emphasized at the "First Guizhou Tourism Industry Development Conference" that promoting the rapid and good development of the tourism industry hinges on strengthening organizational leadership, forming a collective effort, strengthening team building, providing talent guarantees, and pooling wisdom and efforts.
Wang Fuyu, member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Secretary, and head of the Provincial Tourism Development and Reform Leading Group, said at relevant tourism meetings:
1. Placing the cultivation, improvement, introduction, and use of tourism talents in a very important position to provide talent support for the continuous healthy and rapid development of Guizhou tourism (speech at the "Guizhou Tourism Culture Forum" on November 30, 2005).
2. Ensuring the principal status of farmers, through farmer shareholding or guiding farmers to organize tourism associations, tourism operation consortia, etc., to ensure farmers' participation in management and prevent farmers from being marginalized in cooperative development. Combining their own realities, actively exploring encouragement and support policies and measures for the development of rural tourism, creating a favorable environment through the formulation of preferential policies for the development of rural tourism, encouraging farmers to develop rural tourism. At all levels and departments, high importance must be attached, responsibilities strengthened, carefully organized, and implemented to strive for the formation of a good situation throughout the province with strong leadership, departmental support, social participation, and enterprise development. Regarding the cultivation of rural tourism talents as the foundational project for the development of rural tourism, integrating training resources, focusing on training effects, and prioritizing the cultivation of rural chefs, rural tourism guides, rural tourism leaders, rural tourism management talents, rural tourism professional talents, rural tourism enterprise owners, and expanding the ranks of rural tourism talents (speech at the provincial rural tourism exchange meeting on October 28, 2009).
At the "Provincial Rural Tourism Exchange Meeting" on October 28, 2009, Huang Kangsheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Governor of the Provincial Government, and Deputy Head of the Provincial Tourism Development and Reform Leading Group, pointed out in his concluding remarks that all regions and departments should conscientiously implement the spirit of this meeting and vigorously promote the development of rural tourism.
At the provincial tourism work conference on February 21, Wang Fuyu also emphasized: "Transforming the tourism industry development model, adhering to the operational model of party and government promotion, social participation, market operations, media platforms, and tourism performances," "Integrating departmental strength and tourism resources, accelerating the formation of a united force for tourism development."
3. Violation of the spirit of speeches by leaders of the Bijie Prefecture Party Committee and administrative office regarding tourism development, such as Secretary Qin of the Bijie Prefecture Party Committee saying at the first tourism industry development conference in the entire district that due to reasons related to investment systems and policies, it is difficult to attract a large amount of social investment, and the lack of funds leads to many tourism resources not being fully utilized and scientifically developed.
Accelerating the transformation of tourism economic growth patterns, actively supporting and encouraging the creation of tourism entertainment companies and tourism cultural performance companies.
Vigorously cultivating and developing market entities, enterprises are the main bodies for developing the tourism industry.
Standing at the height of constructing a major tourism district, fully playing functional roles, effectively coordinating and cooperating, actively and proactively doing practical things and making contributions to tourism development, and creating a first-class environment for tourism development.
4. Violation of the basic qualities of a trustworthy government and the protection of citizens' trust-based rights.
The reason our company invested in and devoted itself to the tourism industry at Mount Mabie is largely because we believed in and trusted the government. Our company’s work was approved by both the county and township governments and the tourism authorities, with complete procedures and legal processes. The county tourism development committee and the tourism authorities even issued specific approvals. Therefore, we deeply believed in the legality of the government documents and agreements signed with the township government.
We know that formulating, revoking, and abolishing administrative regulations and agreements are legal powers of the government, especially when the government finds its formulated regulations and agreements inconsistent with national laws and regulations. For the sake of national legal unity and public interest, it is necessary for the government to re-formulate, revoke, and abolish administrative regulations and agreements. However, when the government abolishes already effective regulations and other normative documents and agreements, it must consider that these documents and agreements involve the interests of thousands of households, the rights of the parties involved, and the credibility of the government, the local investment environment, and the confidence of investors. Therefore, the government must follow the principles of lawful administration and trust protection, carefully decide, and not arbitrarily act based on old ideas that ignore personal rights, damaging the government's credibility among the masses, the country's rule of law construction environment, and governance principles.
Superficially, Director Chen is acting in accordance with the law, correcting improper documents and agreements. In reality, Director Chen's behavior has infringed upon the trust-based interests of the parties involved. It represents an unlimited expansion of administrative discretion and substituting human governance for the rule of law.
First, the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents given to our company by the county tourism development committee and tourism authorities are not only consistent with national laws and regulations but also embody the spirit of relevant laws and regulations and the speeches of leaders of the provincial party committee, provincial government, and prefecture committee regarding tourism conferences.
Second, even if the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents from the tourism development committee and tourism bureau contain elements inconsistent with national regulations and need to be abolished, the responsibility lies entirely with the government itself and not with the investors (the company).
Third, even if the document and agreement indeed need to be abolished as inappropriate and non-compliant files, they must go through proper procedures, and the trust-based interests and losses of investors should be compensated according to the law. They cannot disregard the reasonable expectations and trust-based interests of investors and arbitrarily "abolish" documents they themselves formulated and issued. More importantly, without any negotiation with the other party regarding compensation for investment losses, unilaterally and brutally tearing up contracts, trampling on government credibility, harming the local tourism investment environment, and infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of investors is unacceptable.
If the government wants to "act in accordance with the law" and abolish already effective documents, insisting on withdrawing its commitments and changing previous administrative actions, then it must prove that the public interest gained from this approach is certainly greater than the benefits brought to the parties involved by keeping the original commitment. If this can be achieved, the government can change or withdraw its commitment but must also bear the responsibility of compensating for the losses suffered by the parties involved.
The fact is that Director Chen's decision on November 16, 2009, to abolish the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents from the county tourism development committee and tourism bureau violates the provincial tourism management regulations and the spirit of speeches by leaders of the provincial party committee, provincial government, and Bijie Prefecture Party Committee and administrative office regarding tourism work. This is detrimental to the starting point of the emerging tourism industry in Weining County, undermines the confidence of people enthusiastic about the tourism industry, harms the credibility of the government and the local tourism investment environment, destroys the confidence of society in participating in the tourism industry, objectively creates a counterproductive effect, and goes against the operating model proposed by the provincial party committee and provincial government of "party and government promotion, social participation, market operations, media platforms, and tourism performances" and the guiding ideology of "strong leadership, departmental support, social participation, enterprise development, and the cultivation of rural tourism talents and rural tourism leaders." This is not beneficial to public interests and could create psychological harm, greatly hindering the development of rural tourism in Weining.
Therefore, our company believes that under the current circumstances, Director Chen's actions against the participation of private society in the development of rural tourism in Weining are unwise. The development of rural tourism in a place requires not only the attention of the government but also the participation of private society, because only through extensive participation from all sectors of society and interaction with private companies can the market-oriented path be better perfected. This point has been emphasized by Wang Fuyu, head of the Provincial Tourism Development and Reform Leading Group, and Secretary Qin Rupeng of the Prefecture Party Committee at relevant tourism work conferences. Simultaneously, this model has been proven in practice.
Our company is the first private stock tourism company in Weining County, and the choice of tourism was inspired by the speeches of relevant provincial and prefecture leaders. Now, receiving unfair treatment from Director Chen of the Weining County government, if this erroneous practice is not promptly corrected, it will damage the confidence of private society in Weining to participate in the local tourism industry and will inevitably harm the tourism industry in Weining. Imagine if every time a new county chief takes office, they rudely abolish the approval documents and agreements of the previous government, and there is no corresponding continuity in policy. Who would dare to invest? How can a good investment environment be created?
Five, the objective fact reflected by this incident is that Director Chen has not thoroughly understood or grasped the relevant laws and regulations and the spirit and guiding thoughts of speeches by leaders of the provincial party committee, provincial government, and prefecture committee and administrative office regarding tourism, or perhaps there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom, not acting in accordance with the law, openly violating the spirit of governing the country according to the law.
We know that in establishing and abolishing administrative contracts, the government must meet the needs of public interest while also considering the legitimate interests of the parties involved. Although the government has the right to unilaterally change or terminate contracts, this right is limited. First, this power can only be exercised within the limits required by public interest; second, clauses unrelated to public interest cannot be changed or terminated; third, losses caused to the parties due to changes or terminations of contracts should be compensated; fourth, if the changes exceed certain limits or approach a completely new obligation, the parties can request the renegotiation of a new contract. Clearly, Director Chen's administrative action in abolishing the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents from the Weining County tourism development committee and tourism bureau is not an act of administering according to the law.
The basic requirements and goals of administering according to the law are: 1. Legal administration, administrative agencies implementing administrative management should follow the principles of fairness and justice.
Judging whether administrative actions are appropriate usually considers the following factors: one, whether the purpose and motivation of administrative actions conform to the spirit of legal provisions; two, whether administrative actions are based on proper considerations; three, whether the content of administrative actions conforms to rationality. Administrative actions with improper motives, irrelevant considerations, or improper content are unreasonable. Inappropriate administrative actions and unreasonable administrative actions should be revoked or changed in review decisions.
In this matter, Director Chen's reason for abolishing the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents from the county tourism development committee and tourism bureau is "to ensure the smooth progress of the application for Mount Mabie to become a provincial and national scenic spot." Clearly, this reason is unfounded and irrelevant because the continued validity of the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents from the county tourism development committee and tourism bureau does not affect the application for the scenic area level of Mount Mabie. Furthermore, the continued validity of the agreement and approval documents can even promote our company's protection of the natural ecology and ancient trees and flowers of Mount Mabie, reducing the destruction caused by nearby villagers, which is actually beneficial to the application.
The key factors in applying for scenic area levels are the resource advantages inherently possessed by the scenic area, mainly judged by the scenic area's landscape standards. The continued validity of the agreement signed between our company and the Magua Township government and the approval documents from the county tourism development committee and tourism bureau only has a positive impact on the application—maintaining the natural landscape of the scenic area from being destroyed. Our company's work and role in protecting the natural landscape of Mount Mabie are acknowledged by the surrounding villagers. Clearly, Director Chen's abolition of our company's agreement and approval documents not only violates laws and regulations and the spirit of speeches by provincial and prefecture leaders but also lacks rationality.
Six, the tourism industry is a