Rule Of Law In China: Progress And Problems. Lin Li
1996. He pointed out that strengthening the construction of China’s socialist legal system and the law-based governance of the country was an important part of Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and an important guideline for the Party and the government in managing the state and social affairs.3 Then the concept of the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country was officially put forward.
In March 1996, the Ninth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and 2010 Program of Perspective Goals, a legally valid national document, formulated by the Fourth Session of the Eighth Standing Committee of the NPC, confirmed the law-based governance of the country and building the country under a socialist legal system and clearly stated that the major task of the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country was strengthening legislation, judiciary, law enforcement, and law publicity; upholding the close integration of reform, development, and the construction of legal system; further formulating and implementing laws and regulations which were adapted to economic and social development; strengthening and improving judiciary, administrative law enforcement, and the oversight over law enforcement; resolutely rectifying the mistakes that the available laws were not observed, the enforcement of laws was not strict, violations of laws were not investigated, and the power was abused.
In September 1997, the work report by the 15th National Congress of the CPC established for the first time the law-based governance of the country as the basic policy for the Party to lead the people in governing the country, changed “building the country under a socialist legal system” to “building a socialist country under the rule of law”, and made a specific definition of the scientific connotation of the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country: “the rule of law means that under the leadership of the Party, the people manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings and the society through various channels and forms in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and other laws and ensure that all national tasks are carried out in accordance with the law and gradually make socialist democracy institutionalized through standards and procedures, so that these system and laws do not change with the change in leadership and the change of leaders’ opinions and attention”.
In March 1999, the Second Session of the Ninth National People’s Congress adopted the Amendment to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, enshrined the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country in the general outline of the Constitution, and clearly stipulated that “the People’s Republic of China rules the country in accordance with the law and builds a socialist country under the rule of law”, so that the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country was established in the form of a national basic law and became a basic principle of the Constitution.
The official establishment and full implementation of the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country signify that the Party has transformed from a revolutionary Party that exercises leadership mainly depending on mass movements and political methods to a ruling one that implements law-based governance, constitution-based exercise of state power, and law-based exercise of state power, which is of historic significance, and marks that China’s basic policy of governing the country has achieved a historic leap from the “rule of man” to the “legal system” and then from the “legal system” to the “rule of law”; and indicates that the political status and democratic right of “determining their own destiny” of the people are fully affirmed by the socialist rule of law and the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups have been effectively guaranteed by the Constitution and other laws.
The Report of the 15th National People’s Congress of the CPC stipulated that the law-based governance of the country was the basic policy for the Party to lead the people in governing the country. Since then, after the 17-year development, this basic policy has achieved remarkable results in various aspects, such as law-based exercise of state power, democratic legislation, law-based administration, impartial judicial administration, legal supervision, legal system publicity, legal services, and legal governance, and has largely demonstrated the rationality of the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country and the vitality of the socialist rule of law.
3.The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC Timely Put Forward the General Guide of Law-Based Governance of the Country with Comprehensive Advancement of the Rule of Law as the Core
The 18th National Congress of the CPC proposed that the rule of law is the basic way to govern the country. We should speed up the construction of the socialist country under the rule of law and fully develop the law-based governance of the country. By 2020, the law-based governance of the country should be fully implemented as a basic policy, a law-based government should be basically in function, judicial credibility should be steadily enhanced, and human rights should be fully respected and protected. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee further proposed that to build a China under the rule of law, we should adhere to the coordinated advancement of law-based governance, law-based exercise of state power, law-based government administration, and the integrated development of rule of law for the country, the government, and society. The full implementation of these arrangements and requirements relates to the expedite construction of the country under a socialist legal system, the implementation of the top-level design of comprehensively deepening the reform, and the long-term development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Since the 18th National People’s Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to the law-based governance of the country. It emphasized that in order to implement the basic policy of the law-based governance of the country and accelerate the construction of the country under a socialist legal system, we must ensure that “our legislation is sound, law enforcement is strict, the administration of justice is impartial, and the law is observed by everyone”. It also emphasized that we should uphold the Party’s leadership and pay more attention to “improving the means the Party exercises leadership and governance”; “the essence of the rule of law is governing the country according to the Constitution; the Constitution-based exercise of state power is the key of law-based exercise of state power. Under the new situation, in order to fulfill the important responsibility of governing and rejuvenating the country, the Party must strengthen self-governance in every respect according to the Party Constitution. The Party leads the people to formulate and implement the Constitution and other laws, so the Party itself must act within the scope of the Constitution and other laws and truly leads the legislation, guarantees law enforcement, and takes the lead in observing the law”.
In order to speed up the socialist construction of the rule of law, the Party made a comprehensive and systematic review of the experience and lessons of China’s legal system over the past 65 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially of new knowledge the ruling party has acquired on law-based exercise of state power and law-based governance since the 15th CPC Central Committee proposing the law-base governance of the country and a socialist country under the rule of law. Based on this, the Party comprehensively and systematically proposed the theoretical system and program of action for the Party practicing law-based exercise of state power. After the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, China began to study and consider the issues of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. The 18th National Congress of the CPC proposed the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made a top-level design for comprehensively deepening the reform. To achieve this objective and implement this top-level design, China had to provide reliable protection from the perspective of the rule of law.
Since the 18th National People’s Congress of the CPC, the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects had entered a critical stage, and the reform in China had entered a period of cracking hard-nut problems and the deep-water zone. The ruling party had unprecedented priority to reform, develop, and stabilize the country and faced unprecedented contradictions, risks, and challenges, too. Law-based governance of the country became even more prominent in the work of the Party and the government, and its role was more significant. Strengthening law-based governance of the country is a major strategic issue. It concerns the ruling party’s governance and the rejuvenation of the country,