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1.2.4.The second spring of the rule of law: The construction of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. If we say that the strategic decisions made at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee on the construction of democracy and the rule of law ushered the “first spring” of building a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics since the reform and opening-up, then, a series of major decisions and strategic plans made since the 18th National Congress of the CPC for comprehensively deepening the reform, comprehensively advancing the rule of law, accelerating the building of a law-based China, and promoting the stategoverned modernization are and will certainly give birth to the “second spring” of building a socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.
The 18th National Congress of the CPC made it clear that comprehensively advancing the principle of governing the country according to law and accelerating the building of a socialist country ruled by law are the fundamental tasks of building a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics at a new historical starting point.
On December 4, 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a speech at the General Assembly commemorating the 30th anniversary of the promulgation and implementation of the current Constitution. The speech further highlighted the idea that “To uphold the law-based governance of the country, first we must adhere to the governance of the country based on the Constitution; to adhere to exercising state power on the basis of the law, first we must adhere to exercising state power on the basis of the Constitution”, and emphasized the importance of the implementation of the Constitution and laws. This speech has a programmatic and guiding significance for China’s rule of law.
On February 23, 2013, the Central Political Bureau conducted the fourth collective study on comprehensively advancing law-based governance of the country. Xi Jinping presided over the study. He stressed that building a well-off society in an all-round way has put higher demands on ruling the country by law. We must comprehensively implement the guiding principles of the 18th CPC National Congress, take as our guide Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, comprehensively promote that a well-conceived approach is taken to legislation, that law is enforced strictly, that justice is administered impartially, and that law is observed by everyone. We must 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 to open up a new situation in governing the country according to law.
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee further proposed new requirements and new tasks for promoting the establishment of the rule of law in China: upholding the constitutional and legal authority; deepening the reform of the administrative law enforcement system; ensuring the independent and impartial exercise of prosecutorial and judicial power according to law; improving the operational mechanism of judicial power; and improving the judicial guarantee system for human rights. The session also set 17 reform tasks for the work on political and legal issues.
In order to actively and steadily push forward the reform of the judicial system, the leading group for comprehensively deepening the reform passed Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Judicial System and Social System and Implementation of the Division of Labor Scheme, the Framework Opinions on Certain Issues Concerning the Pilot Reform of the Judicial System, and the Shanghai Municipal Judicial Pilot Reform Scheme, which further stipulated the objectives and principles for deepening the reform of the judicial system, and the road map and the timetable for implementing the reform. It also defined the policy orientation for solving several key and difficult problems in the pilot reform in an orderly manner. As a result, China’s reform of the judicial system has entered a new phase in which the top-level design and the practical exploration as well as the overall promotion and the key breakthroughs are integrated.
In October 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC was held in Beijing to study the issue of building a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. In this session was passed the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPC on Certain Major Issues concerning Comprehensively Advancing Law-based Governance of China, which marked a major shift from the construction of the law system towards the system of the rule of law in China; marked a historic move of China from a major country with many laws to a powerful country under the rule of law; and marked a new stage and a historic starting point of China’s governing the country by law and its legal construction.
The Resolution includes the great significance, the guiding principles, the general objectives, the basic principles, and the general tasks of advancing the law-based governance of China, and consists of the following seven parts.
1.2.4.1. Part 1: Introduction: Keeping to the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and establishing a Chinese-style socialist rule-of-law system. This mainly includes: First, it explicitly sets out the guiding principles for comprehensively advancing the law-based governance of the country. In comprehensively advancing the governance of the country according to law, we must implement the guiding principles of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, 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, and the law-based governance 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.
Second, it clearly states the overall objective of comprehensively advancing the rule of law is to build a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and a socialist country governed by the rule of law.
Third, it explicitly sets forth the five basic principles that must be observed in comprehensively advancing the rule of law: uphold the leadership of the CPC; uphold the principal position of the people; ensure that everyone is equal before the law; combine the rule of law with the rule of virtue; and base our work on the actual situation in China.
1.2.4.2. Part 2: Improving the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, at the heart of which is the Constitution, and strengthening enforcement of the Constitution. This mainly includes: First, innovation of concepts and basic ideas. “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 the 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”.
Second, improving our system for enforcing the Constitution and for overseeing its enforcement. “We need to improve the system by which the NPC and its Standing Committee oversee the enforcement of the Constitution, and put better procedures and mechanisms