Source: People’s Daily

Improving the socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics in an all-round way

Comrade Xi Jinping thoroughly explained the scientific connotation of establishing the socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics, that is, under the CPC’s leadership, we need to uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics, put into practice the theory of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, form a complete system of laws and regulations, a highly effective system to ensure the rule of law is put into effect, a stringent system to oversee the implementation of the rule of law, and a robust system to guarantee the rule of law, and put in place a well-defined system of Party rules and regulations. We must comprehensively improve the socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics centering on the said aspects.

We must establish a complete system of laws and regulations. A complete system of laws and regulations are the institutional foundation of a rule of law country and a rule of law society. We must begin with legislation, allowing legislation to play the role of guiding and driving forward the development of the rule of law. We must adhere to the principle of consistence between organizations at the upper and lower levels, coordination between internal and external organizations, scientific regulation and effective operation, improving and developing the system of laws and regulations. We must comprehensively uphold and further advance scientific and democratic legislation, and improve the quality and efficiency of legislation. We must pay greater attention to the priority of legislation, and place equal emphasis on making new laws, revising existing laws, abolishing those that are unnecessary and interpreting laws that need clarification, so as to achieve the transformation from exclusive legislation to intensive legislation. We must strengthen legislation in key fields and coordinate our legislative work with our decisions on reform, to make sure that all of our major reforms have a legal basis, and that legislative work is carried out proactively to meet the needs of reform, as well as economic and social development.

We must establish a highly effective system to ensure the rule of law is put into effect. The very life and authority of the law lie in its implementation. To improve the system for implementing the rule of law, first we must improve the systems for implementing the Constitution and for overseeing its implementation, and do a good job in publicizing and establishing the authority of the Constitution, as part of the efforts to comprehensively advance the law-based governance of the country. Governments at all levels must carry out their work under the Party’s leadership and in line with the rule of law, establish an authoritative and efficient system for law-based government administration that coordinates rights with liabilities, and accelerate our efforts to build a rule of law government. We must remain committed to the judicial system reform, improve the system for managing the judiciary and the mechanisms for the exercise of judicial powers, improve the system for ensuring independent and impartial exercise of judicial and procuratorial powers in accordance with the law, and optimize the allocation of judicial functions and powers. We must guarantee the people’s participation in the administration of justice, provide stronger judicial protection of human rights and make every effort to ensure that the people feel justice is served in every case that comes before the court.

We must establish a stringent system to oversee the implementation of the rule of law. The oversight over the implementation of the rule of law refers to the oversight over the implementation of laws, and serves as the mechanism guaranteeing the sound operation of laws. A more stringent oversight system must be established, consisting of intraparty oversight, oversight by the NPC, democratic oversight, administrative oversight, judicial oversight, audit oversight, social oversight and oversight by public opinions, and forming a powerful joint force for oversight. We must work to make the oversight work more standard and based more on procedures and institutions, so as to develop an all-round oversight system for the rule of law and ensure that a scientific approach is taken to legislation, that law is enforced strictly, that justice is administered impartially, and that the law is observed by everyone. We must push ahead with the oversight system reform and form a powerful joint force in the fight against corruption and the move to build a clean and honest government.

We must establish a robust system to guarantee the rule of law. The guarantee for the rule of law includes political guarantee, institutional guarantee, ideological guarantee, organizational guarantee, operation guarantee and talent guarantee. We must actually strengthen and improve the Party’s leadership of comprehensive law-based governance of China, and improve the ability and level of exercising state power on the basis of the law, so as to provide a strong political and organizational guarantee for the comprehensive law-based governance of the country. We must work to build a contingent of highly competent rule of law professionals, raise the level of competence of legal service providers, and strengthen institutional construction and fund guarantee, so as to provide a solid talent and material guarantee for comprehensive law-based governance of the country. We must reform the systems and mechanisms that go against the rule of law and law-based governance of the country and provide a complete institutional guarantee for the comprehensive law-based governance of China. We must work to develop the social atmosphere in which everyone acts according to laws, seeks for redress under law when something happens, solves problems with laws, and resolves conflicts based on laws, and improve the mechanism for awarding credible and law-abiding behaviors and the mechanism for punishing illegal behaviors, in a bid to make respecting, trusting, and abiding by laws the common pursuit and conscious action of all.

We must put in place a well-defined system of Party rules and regulations. We must comprehensively advance the law-based governance of China and governance of the Party on the basis of rules and institutions. The Party Constitution is the most fundamental rules of the Party and requires strict observance by all the Party members. We must improve the systems and mechanism for developing Party rules and regulations, strengthen the filing inspection and interpretation of Party rules and regulations, and create a complete system of Party rules and regulations. We must focus on the linkage and coordination between Party rules & regulations and national laws, and encourage Party members and officials to take the lead in abiding by state laws and regulations. We must improve the executive power of Party rules and regulations, and use these rules and regulations to fully implement the principle of the Party supervising its own conduct and practicing strict self-governance. In accordance with the general deployment about comprehensively advancing law-based governance of the country and governance of the Party in line with Party rules and regulations, we must uphold the basic principles of making the Constitution as the guidance and the Party Constitution as the basis, and build a system of Party rules and regulations with scientific contents, strict procedures, complete supporting measures and effective operation in an all-round way.

Besides the said five aspects, the socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics also includes the social norm system with diversified forms and rich contents, such as the codes of conduct for citizens, industry rules and regulations and charters of organizations. They serve as the important basis for building a rule of law country. The socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics can further break down into the economic rule of law system, political rule of law system, cultural rule of law system, social rule of law system, ecological rule of law system, military rule of law system, and international rule of law system. Building a socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics must be advanced at all levels and in a comprehensive manner.

(The author is a member of the Academic Committee of Shanghai Academy and Deputy Chairman of China Law Society)