Zhang Liwei, an associate professor from the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, recently penned an article on China.org.cn discussing the importance of the rule of law in modernizing a country's governance. The following are excerpts:

China has gone through four phases promoting the rule of law. The first phase, lasting from 1954 to 1978, featured explorations and trials. The second stage, from 1978 to 1997, focused on renewal. The third (1997-2014) was a period of accelerated development. The next stage will target comprehensive implementation.

Implementing the rule of law in our socialist society started with the adoption of the 1954 Constitution, the first Constitution since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The Constitution laid the legal foundation for a socialist system and established the People's Congress system as China's fundamental political system. However, the authority of law and its importance for governance weren't fully respected until the beginning of reform and opening up in the late 1970s.

The communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee emphasized the importance of strengthening the socialist legal system. It said there must be laws for people to follow, these laws must be observed, their enforcement must be strict and law breakers must be dealt with.

In September 1997, the report adopted at the 15th CPC National Congress emphasized "governing the country according to law and making it a socialist country ruled by law." During the 1999 amendment to the Constitution, this was written into the Constitution. When the rule of law historically became the primary topic for the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, it symbolized that rule of law had reached a new stage in China.

How to truly achieve it

First of all, the decision makers need to have a clear understanding of the new characteristics of the rule of law, discover effective approaches and hold firm basic principles. President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, recently suggested promoting the rule of law, law-based governance and law-based administration together and building a law-based country, law-based government and law-based society at the same time. This means that the rule of law will be implemented in accordance with China's situation as the emphasis moves from the establishment of a complete legal system to the rule of law and efforts are made for legislation, law enforcement, judicial procedures, law-abiding education and legal supervision.

The authority of the Constitution and laws should be established and defended. As a statement of the basic principles and laws of a country, the Constitution is the fundamental document to which society must conform. Xi said the Constitution's vitality and authority lie in its implementation. The primary way to comprehensively promote the rule of law is to comprehensively implement the Constitution. Efforts are needed to improve the supervision mechanism and procedure for the implementation of the Constitution and enhance its full implementation to a new level. A system must be established to ensure that all society members are loyal to, abide by, defend and apply the Constitution and law.

Legislation needs to be improved and reform should be guided by the rule of law. Although a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is already in place, further improving the system will be a long-term endeavor. Law-drafting techniques should be improved in order to enhance the quality of laws, an institutional precondition for promoting the rule of law. Then the country's development and major reforms will become law-based.

The essence of law-based administration is to put administrative power under the supervision of the law. It has a threefold meaning: administrative power must be obtained legally; the execution of administrative power must be law-based; those breaking the law while executing administrative power must be punished. Therefore, a list of government powers must be adopted to define what the government can do. Meanwhile, law enforcement system reforms must be deepened so that laws can be enforced fairly and in accordance with standardized procedures.

Judicial reforms, an important part of political system reform and a major area of China's campaign to comprehensively promote reform, hold the key to establishing the rule of law in China. Comprehensively promoting the rule of law in China requires further deepening judicial system reform, solving deep-rooted problems hindering justice, enhancing judicial authority and defending justice so that people are satisfied with every court verdict.

The Party's law-based governance is the key to establishing the rule of law in a socialist society. Toward this end, the Party should run its leadership of the country and society in accordance with the rule of law. Legal procedures should be followed to turn the Party's propositions into the will of the state. Organs of state power, administrative organs, people's courts and procuratorates must work independently according to the Constitution and laws.

It is the fundamental solution to eliminating corruption and an important part of promoting the rule of law in China to ensure that power is restrained and supervised in accordance with law. "We must fight corruption with legally-based methods, strengthen anti-corruption legislation, and enforce laws and rules strictly," Xi said at the Second Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

A law-respecting culture should be nurtured. This will require the effort of whole society. Publicity campaigns should be conducted to create an atmosphere where people take the initiative to study, abide by and use laws, and trust and respect the rule of law.

In their effort to deepen reform, promote development, solve problems, and maintain stability, government departments at all levels must regard the ability to act according to law and abide by the law as an important gauge for appraising officials.