Rule Of Law In China: Progress And Problems. Lin Li
of the people, and the enduring peace and stability of the Party and the country. It is an important aspect on improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of national governance systems and governance capacity. China must make overall arrangements, take practical measures, and take actions in strengthening law-based governance of the country, in order to achieve a series of strategic arrangements made by the 18th CPC National People’s Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, realize the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation and comprehensively deepen reforms, and improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Based on the above considerations, in January 2014, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee decided that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee would focus on strengthening law-base governance of the country and making a resolution. To this end, a document drafting group was established led by Xi Jinping (the director), Zhang Dejiang (the deputy director), and Wang Qishan (the deputy director) and consisted of leaders from relevant departments and leaders from two provinces. They were responsible for drawing up documents under the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee. A working group was set up under the drafting group4 to assist them in collecting and collating all the information they needed. The working group must thoroughly and effectively look into problems in practice and propose ideas and draw up drafts, which served as a reference for the drafting group.
On January 27, the Party Central Committee issued the Notice for Advice on Advancing Law-based Governance of the Country on the Forth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. On February 12, the drafting group held its first plenary meeting and the drafting of the document was formally initiated. From February 18 to 25, the group, divided into eight research groups and travelled to 14 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities for research. From the group’s in-depth observation and feedback from all parties, the surveyed units unanimously believed that it was significant and far-reaching for the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee to discuss strengthening law-base governance of the country and making a resolution. It was consistent with the development of the Party and the country and the hope of the Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country. It was generally hoped that this resolution would clearly and comprehensively advance the guiding thought and general requirements for strengthening the law-based governance of the country and profoundly clarify the relationship between the Party’s leadership and law-based governance of the country, and other important theoretical and practical issues in the construction of the rule of law. Effective actions must be taken for prominent issues in the rule of law that the people had strong concern about, and top-level design shall be made for the construction of a socialist country of the rule of law.
During more than 8 months after the establishment of the drafting group, the group members conducted in-depth investigations and studies, extensively solicited opinions, carried out special arguments, and repeatedly discussed amendments. The Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee held four meetings and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held two meetings to review the resolutions of the plenary session. At the beginning of August, a Draft Resolution was handed out for opinions within the confine of the Party. It solicited opinions from the Party’s senior comrades, the central authorities of democratic parties, the leaders of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and patriots without party affiliations. A total of 3,326 people voiced their opinions, comments, and suggestions on the Draft Resolution.
According to the feedback for the Draft Resolution, all parties agreed that the Resolution to be passed in the meeting would face up to the principal issues in the construction of the rule of law in China. Based on the reality of China’s socialist construction of the rule of law, the Resolution should clearly put forward the guiding thought, overall objective, and basic principles for advancing law-based governance of the country and set forth a series of new viewpoints and new measures. It should answer a series of major theoretical and practical issues such as the relationship between the Party’s leadership and law-based governance of the country. A full deployment would be made concerning well-conceived legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial justice, law observance by all, the building of a team for enforcing the rule of law, and strengthening and improving the party’s leadership in the advancement of the law-based governance of the country. It should make targeted response to the people’s voices and social concerns. The forthcoming Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee must uphold the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, build a Chinese-style socialist system of the rule of law, and clearly define the nature, direction, path, and entry point of building a socialist country under the rule of law. All parties agreed that it would surely promote the construction of a socialist rule-of-law country.
In the process of soliciting opinions, all parties put forward lots of good opinions and suggestions. The Central Committee required the drafting group to seriously sort out and study them. The group made important modifications on the Resolution. On September 30, the revised Resolution was submitted to the Political Bureau of the Central Committee for consideration. The Bureau believed that it was basically mature and decided to submit it to the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee for deliberation. During the meeting, under the auspices of Xi Jinping, the drafting group made multiple modifications to it according to the opinions of the attendees again. At 3 pm on October 23, the newborn Draft Resolution was placed before every member and alternate member of the Central Committee. The Resolution integrating the wisdom of the Party, the army, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country was unanimously adopted. At 6 pm on October 28, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPC on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Law-based Governance of China was formally announced to the public. Since then, the first systemic party document on comprehensively advancing law-based governance of the country was officially published after 251 days and nights’ diligent work, gathering the wisdom of the Party and consulting all sectors of society.
4.Guiding Thoughts and Basic Principles of Comprehensively Advancing Law-based Governance of the Country
In drafting work, about advancing law-based governance of the country, Xi Jinping made very clear instructions on the drafting ideas, guiding thought, and basic characteristics. It involves many major theoretical and practical issues. Many of these issues are also new topics for China. Whether scientific answers can be made to these major issues theoretically and practically is the key to the success of the drafting work. It’s a must in drafting to apply the basic principles of Marxism, the standpoints of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the major principles and policies proposed by the Party Central Committee since the 18th CPC National Congress. We should sum up the experience of socialist construction of the rule of law, draw on the essence of Chinese codified culture, and learn from the useful achievements of the rule of law in other countries. We should work hard to thoroughly understand and clearly clarify the major issues of the Draft Resolution, so that it could pass its test.
Xi Jinping gave a detailed introduction and explanation on how to determine the general direction in the Explanation on the Draft Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPC on Certain Major Issues concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Law-based Governance of China (the Explanation for short). Xi said that the Political Bureau of the Central Committee believes that comprehensively advancing the rule of law involves aspects including the stability of reform and development, the Party’s governance, the nation, and the army, as well as domestic affairs, diplomacy, and national defense. We must view the plan in an overall and long-term manner. The Fourth Plenary Session decided that the Party should defend our political position and seek answers to major theoretical and practical questions on the construction of the rule of law. First, we should fully affirm the achievements and experiences of China’s socialist construction of the rule of law and generate new ideas and measures aiming at realistic issues. Second, we should uphold the key of the construction of the rule of law and reflect the overall requirements for the development of the Party and the nation’s undertakings. Third, we should improve the top design while looking at the bigger picture and improve the practical function while having our feet firmly on the