Rule of Law in China

The following sections are included:

• Preface
• About the Author
• About the Translator
• Contents

“Law-based governance of China is an essential requisite and an important guarantee for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and is a natural requisite for modernizing the country’s governance system and capacity for governance. It has an important bearing on the efforts of the Party to govern and rejuvenate the country, the well-being of the people, and the lasting stability of the Party and the country. It is essential to comprehensively advance the law-based governance of the country in order to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, realize the Chinese Dream of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, comprehensively deepen the reform, improve and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and improve the Party’s capacity for and adeptness at governance.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) attaches great importance to developing the rule of law. Over the years, particularly since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC, on the basis of thorough reviews of the successful experiences China has gained and the profound lessons it has learned in developing socialist rule of law, the Party has made it clear that the rule of law must be strengthened and democracy must be institutionalized and codified in order to guarantee people’s democracy. It has made the law-based governance of the country the basic policy by which it leads the people in governing the country and the law-based exercise of state power the basic approach it takes to governing the country. It has been actively developing socialist rule of law, and has secured historic achievements in this respect. Today, a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics has already taken shape, steady progress has been made in building a rule-of-law government, the judicial system has been constantly improved, and the awareness of rule of law has been strengthened throughout society”.

“In comprehensively advancing the law-based governance of the country, we must implement the guiding principles of the 18th National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee; hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics; take as our guide Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development; and thoroughly implement the guiding principles from major speeches by Xi Jinping. We must remain committed to integrating leadership by the Party, the position of the people as masters of the country; keep resolutely to the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics; remain dedicated to upholding the authority of the Constitution and other laws; protect the rights and interests of the people, social equity and justice, and national security and stability in accordance with the law; and thus, through the rule of law, provide a powerful guarantee for achieving the Two Centenary Goals and realizing the Chinese Dream of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The overall objective of our efforts to comprehensively advance the law-based governance of the country is to develop a socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics and a socialist rule-of-law country. This means that under the CPC’s leadership, we need to uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics; put into practices the theory of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics; form a complete system of laws, a highly effective system to put into effect the rule of law, a stringent system to oversee the rule of law being put into effect, and a robust system to guarantee the rule of law; put in place a well-defined system of Party regulations; make coordinated efforts to simultaneously develop the law-based governance of the country, the law-based exercise of state power, and the law-based administration of government; adopt a holistic approach to the development of a rule-of-law country, a rule-of-law government, and a rule-of-law society; ensure that a well-conceived approach is taken to legislation, that law is enforced strictly, that justice is administered impartially, and that the law is observed by everyone; and modernize our country’s governance system and capacity for governance”.

“The law is of great value in the governance of a country and good laws are a prerequisite for good governance. To build a socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics, we must begin with legislation, allowing legislation to play the role of guiding and driving forward the development of rule of law, and focus on the key task of improving the quality of legislation. We must firmly adhere to the notion that the people always come first and it is for them that legislation is made, put into effect the core socialist values, and make sure that every piece of legislation is in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution, reflects the will of the people, and enjoys their support. We need to follow the principles of justice, impartiality, and openness throughout the whole legislative process, improve our legislative systems and mechanisms, and place equal emphasis on making new laws, revising existing ones, abolishing those that are unnecessary, and interpreting laws that need clarification in order to make our legislation more responsive, systemic, targeted, and effective”.

“The very life and authority of the law lies in its enforcement. Governments at all levels must work under the leadership of the Party and in line with the rule of law. They must make innovations in the system of law enforcement, refine law enforcement procedures, advance a coordinated approach to law enforcement, strictly demand accountability in law enforcement, and establish a system of law-based government administration that combines rights with responsibilities and that is authoritative and effective. They must move more quickly to become rule-of-law governments which have well-conceived functions and statutorily defined powers and responsibilities, strictly enforce the law, and are open and impartial, clean and efficient, and more credible and law-abiding”.

“The socialist market economy is, in essence, a rule-of-law economy.

To ensure that the market plays the decisive role in allocating resources and the government plays a better role, we must improve the system of laws of the socialist market economy following the basic direction of protecting property rights, honoring contracts, unifying the market, ensuring fair exchange, encouraging fair competition, and exercising effective regulation”.

“Justice is the lifeblood of the rule of law. Judicial justice encourages social justice, while judicial injustice cripples it. We must improve the system for managing the judiciary and the mechanisms for exercising judicial powers, standardize judicial behavior, tighten oversight over judicial activities, and make every effort to ensure that the people feel justice is served in every case”.

“The authority of law comes from the people’s heartfelt support for and faith in it. People’s rights and interests need to be safeguarded by the law, and the authority of the law needs to be upheld by the people. We must promote the socialist rule-of-law, develop a socialist rule-of-law culture, encourage all members of the society to show greater enthusiasm for and initiative in promoting the rule of law, and create an atmosphere in which people feel it is honorable to abide by the law while disgraceful to break the law, so that all our people will faithfully advocate, consciously observe, and firmly safeguard the socialist rule of law”.

“The leadership of the Party is the most essential feature of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the most fundamental guarantee for socialist rule of law in China. The need to exercise the Party’s leadership throughout the whole process and in every aspect of the law-based governance of the country is a basic lesson we have learned in developing socialist rule of law in China”.

The following section is included:

• Index