VII. Exercising Law-Based Governance on All Fronts and Advancing the Rule of Law in China

 

The comprehensive advancement of law-based governance has been a profound revolution in China’s governance. Law-based governance is important for the Party’s success in governing and rejuvenating the country, for the wellbeing of the people, and for the long-term stability of the Party and the country. We must give better play to the role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, ensuring stable expectations, and delivering long-term benefits, and we must strive to build a modern socialist country in all respects under the rule of law.

We must follow a path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, develop a Chinese system of socialist rule of law, and establish China as a socialist country under the rule of law. We must, with a focus on protecting and promoting social fairness and justice, pursue coordinated progress in law-based governance, law-based exercise of state power, and law-based government administration and take integrated steps to build a country, government, and society based on the rule of law. We will make all-around efforts to ensure sound legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial administration of justice, and society-wide observance of the law and see that all work of the state is carried out under the rule of law.

1. Improving the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution at its core

Law-based governance and law-based exercise of state power begin with compliance with the Constitution. We must remain firmly committed to leadership of the Party, to the state system of people’s democratic dictatorship, and to the political system of people’s congresses, all of which are mandated by the Constitution. We will better implement the Constitution and conduct constitutional oversight, and we will improve the systems for ensuring full compliance with the Constitution, so as to give better play to the Constitution’s important role in China’s governance and uphold its authority.

We will step up legislation in key, emerging, and foreign-related fields and advance the rule of law in domestic and foreign-related affairs in a coordinated manner, so that good laws are made to promote development and ensure good governance. We will make further headway in making laws in a well-conceived and democratic way and in accordance with the law; we will take coordinated steps to enact, revise, abolish, interpret, and codify laws; and we will see that legislative work is more systematic, holistic, coordinated, and responsive. Improvements will be made to the record and review system for normative documents. We must ensure sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making and fully implement the procedural system for making major decisions.

2. Steadily advancing law-based government administration

Building a law-based government is a key task and major part of comprehensively advancing law-based governance. We will transform government functions, improve the government responsibility system and organizational structure, and establish legal footing for government institutions, functions, powers, procedures, and responsibilities, so as to enhance the efficiency and credibility of government administration. We will deepen reform of public institutions.

With regard to administrative law enforcement, we will advance structural reform to ensure that it is strict, procedure-based, impartial, and civil across the board, and we will intensify it in key areas involving the people’s immediate interests. We will refine law enforcement procedures and the standards for administrative discretion, enhance oversight mechanisms and oversight capacity, and strictly implement responsibility and accountability systems. We will also improve the systems and mechanisms for coordinated law enforcement at the community level.

3. Ensuring strict and impartial administration of justice

An impartial judiciary is the last line of defense for social fairness and justice. We will deepen comprehensive and integrated reform of the judicial system, fully and faithfully enforce judicial accountability, and accelerate the development of a fair, efficient, and authoritative socialist judicial system. We will see that the people feel justice has been served in each and every judicial case.

We will ensure the well-regulated exercise of judicial power and improve the systems and mechanisms that enable public security organs, procuratorates, courts, and administrative agencies for justice to perform their respective functions and to coordinate with and check one another. Checks and oversight on judicial activities will be enhanced to ensure judicial justice. Procuratorial organs will step up legal oversight, and the system of public-interest litigation will be improved.

4. Stepping up efforts to establish the rule of law throughout society

A society based on the rule of law is the foundation on which we can build a country under the rule of law. We will promote socialist rule of law and carry forward fine traditional Chinese legal culture, and we will encourage all our people to truly revere, readily observe, and firmly defend socialist rule of law. We will develop a modern public legal service system that covers both urban and rural populations and carry out intensive activities to raise public awareness of the rule of law. We will advance law-based governance at multiple levels and in multiple areas and enhance the rule of law in social governance. We will see that leading officials play an exemplary role and work hard to make respecting, learning about, observing, and applying the law common practice throughout society.