The People's Public Security University of China (PPSU) suspended one of its associate professors from teaching constitutional law after his inappropriate online comments about democracy and constitution, a source close to the matter confirmed to the Global Times.

The source said that Wang Shoutian, an associate professor of the PPSU in Beijing, was recently summoned to a police station to discuss his remarks.

The PPSU has announced Wang's suspension but yet to decide on a final punishment, said the source, adding that Wang may be transferred to courses where he teaches the science of public administration instead of constitutional law.

PPSU refused to comment when reached by the Global Times on Monday.

The source speculated that the punishment may be related to Wang's article "The Democratic Transition of Tunisia Achieved an Initial Success," published on his blog under a pen name on October 8, one of a number of articles he wrote discussing tyranny, democracy and the formulation of constitutions.

"The enactment of constitutions should not be led by one major party, but take into full account the demands of all political parties," he wrote.

In the article, Wang called for all parities to realize that a democratic constitutional system is a mechanism to rotate the presidency between parties, and be aware of the fact that they may become minority parties.

Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said that Wang's viewpoint in that article "obviously does not fit China's reality."

"His viewpoint accords with the constitutional model of Western countries, where parties in bourgeois states emerged after revolution, founded a country and established a constitution, and there were no discussions about which party should lead the establishment of constitution," Zhang told the Global Times.

"In China, however, the formation of the Communist Party of China accompanied the revolution, prior to the establishment of a country and the Constitution. That's why the Party led the formulation of the Constitution," Zhang said.

The fourth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC on rule of law has highlighted the overarching role of the Constitution and also said that the rule of law should be advanced by the Party.

To realize the goal of forming a system serving "the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics," the leadership of the CPC must be upheld, according to the communiqué released after the plenum in late October.