Take a Well-Conceived Approach to Law-Making, and Ensure That Law Is Strictly Enforced, Justice Is Administered Impartially, and the Law Is Observed by All

The policy of comprehensively implementing the basic strategy of the advancing governance according to law which is the basic requirement for building a “country governed by the rule of law” and a basic criterion for realizing the “China governed by the rule of law”.

In 2014, the 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee issued the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Law-based Governance”, which put forward the concepts and measures to comprehensive advance the law-based governance in China from such aspects as improving the constitution-centered socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, strengthening the implementation of the constitution and scientific legislation, further advancing law-based administration and strict law enforcement, speeding up the construction of a law-based government; ensuring judicial justice, improving judicial credibility, strengthening the concept of the rule of law for the whole people, and promoting the construction of a law-based society. Before and after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee, in response to the reality that “laws are very incomplete, and many laws have not yet been formulated”, Deng Xiaoping proposed the “sixteen-character” policy of socialist legal system construction, that is, “ensuring that there are laws to abide by, that laws are observed and strictly enforced; and that lawbreakers are prosecuted”. After years of legal construction, a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has been formed, but the goal of governing the country by law has not been fully realized. The report of the 18th CPC National Congress proposed that “we must promote scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, judicial justice, and observance of the law by all, insist that everyone is equal before the law, and ensure that there are laws to abide by, that laws are observed and strictly enforced; and that lawbreakers are prosecuted”.

This policy transforms the legislation from solving the problem of “have or not” to solving the problem of “scientificity”, and clarifies “justice” as the value goal of administration of justice, while emphasizing the basic requirement of “observance of the law by all”, indicating that China's socialist legal construction has entered a new historical stage. “Scientific legislation” is a new requirement for legislative work and a prerequisite for a sound socialist legal system. The core of scientific legislation is to respect and reflect objective laws, which is the fundamental way to improve the quality of legislation. It is necessary to strengthen the organization and coordination of legislative work by the National People's Congress, promote the refinement of legislation, improve the communication mechanism between the legislature and the public, and broadly build social consensus. “Strict law enforcement” refers to act by law, that is, laws must be observed and implemented after they are enacted. It is an important link in the construction of socialist legal system. All state organs and armed forces, all political parties and social organizations, and all enterprises and public institutions must abide by the Constitution and laws. It is the duty of every citizen to comply with the Constitution and laws. “Judicial justice” is an important condition for realizing the socialist legal system.

On the one hand, all judicial and administrative law enforcement organs must handle cases impartially and in strict accordance with the law, truly based on facts and with the law as the criterion; on the other hand, judicial and administrative law enforcement organs must perform their duties, give full play to their functional roles, investigate and punish all illegal and criminal acts that occur in society. “Observance of the law by all” requires that all activities of Chinese citizens and organizations must comply with the requirements of national laws and be carried out within the scope permitted by the law. Everyone must exercise rights and perform obligations in accordance with the provisions of national laws. “Scientific legislation” is the prerequisite for building China into a rule of law country, “strict law enforcement” is the key to building China into a rule of law country, “judicial justice” is the line of defense for building China into a rule of law country, and “observance of the law by all” is the basis for building China into a rule of law country. The four aspects are complementary and interrelated, and none of them are indispensable.