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Hu Shuli

The Communist Party's fourth plenum last week did not end, as had been expected, with an announcement on a reshuffle in the People's Liberation Army. Instead, party leaders adopted a decision on the "major issues concerning comprehensively advancing the rule of law", pledging changes in six major areas.
A key refrain was that the government would rule the country according to the constitution. Without a doubt, this was the most important achievement of the four-day meeting.
The constitution is the foundation of the country's rule of law. In at least two major speeches over the past two years, Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has said that China must uphold the constitution if it wishes to uphold the rule of law.
Notably, the communiqué of the fourth plenum includes not only the usual exhortations to learn from history, but also some guidelines that befit the times, laying solid ground for the implementation of the constitution.
The communiqué stresses the leaders' resolve to protect the authority of the constitution and build a socialist legal system unique to China, and puts the constitution in the front and centre of Chinese governance.
Too often, government decisions are taken that plainly flout the spirit, if not the letter, of the constitution. Thus the leaders are right to stress the importance of its implementation.
This involves turning the constitution's abstract guarantees on citizen rights into a set of practicable rules governing the relationships between different interest groups in society.
In this light, the legislature's duty is to create a legal system that upholds the constitution. The focus should be put on these areas first: "accelerate the perfection of legal structures to reflect fair rights, fair opportunities and fair rules, guarantee that citizens' personal rights, property rights, basic political rights and all other rights are not infringed, guarantee that citizens' economic, cultural, social and all other rights are implemented".
Such laws will also boost the overall reform efforts, and back up the country's crackdown on corruption.
Further, changes in the workings of both the government and the judiciary are also needed. According to the communiqué, government officials will be required to: carry out their duties "according to the tracks of rule of law", set out a clear list of government powers, set up a rigorous accountability system for major policy decisions, build a healthy administrative law enforcement system, and improve the mechanisms to rectify mistakes.
As for the judiciary, the demands are even more specific. For instance, the decision calls for a legal system that records, reports and investigates any party leader who tries to interfere with the judiciary's decisions. It also advocates pilot structural reforms that separate judicial powers from enforcement powers, proposes that the Supreme People's Court set up circuit courts, and urges the establishment of people's courts and prosecutors' offices that straddle the lines of administrative districts.
The decision proper, which was released yesterday, did not disappoint.
We need more than a collection of laws to realise constitutional rule. More importantly, we must honour the spirit of the constitution.
Xiao Yang, a former president of the Supreme People's Court, once described the document as a declaration of rights, a treasure that safeguards the rights of a citizen. At the same time, it regulates and limits the powers of the state. Thus, the spirit of the constitution is to strike a balance between state powers and citizen rights, to ensure the state does not infringe the basic rights of the people.
The central government must - as it pledged in the communiqué - "scrupulously abide by the ideas of putting people first and legislating for the sake of the people, implement the socialist core value system, ensure that every piece of legislation conforms to the spirit of the constitution, reflects the will of the people and wins their endorsement".
Legal scholars have made clear the importance of having robust oversight of the constitution's implementation. This role falls to the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, as well as legislatures at all levels. With the decision acknowledging the healthy development of such a supervisory system, we can expect measures to that end.
The NPC Standing Committee is also vested with the responsibility of interpreting the constitution. We welcome the decision's call to improve the procedural and systemic rules governing constitutional interpretation.
More than three decades after the party's 11th Central Committee affirmed the importance of the rule of law at its third plenum, China must work harder to realise a system of law based on the constitution. This is the way to win the people's trust.
This article is provided by Caixin Media, and the Chinese version of it was first published in Century Weekly magazine. www.caing.com


Party leaders' call to honour the spirit of China's constitution raises hope for change

More than three decades after the party first affirmed the importance of the rule of law, China must work harder to realise it. Photo: AFP

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Hu Shuli commends their proposed overhaul of the role of legislators, officials and the judiciary, in a bid to strengthen the rule of law


The Communist Party's fourth plenum last week did not end with an announcement on a reshuffle in the People's Liberation Army. Instead, party leaders adopted a decision on the "major issues concerning comprehensively advancing the rule of law".


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Party leaders' call to honour the spirit of China's constitution raises hope for change

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hu Shuli commends their proposed overhaul of the role of legislators, officials and the judiciary, in a bid to strengthen the rule of law

Hu Shuli commends their proposed overhaul of the role of legislators, officials and the judiciary, in a bid to strengthen the rule of law