System of laws with Chinese characteristics has been established but challenge is to carry them out across society

Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, told the ongoing Fourth Session of the 11th NPC on Thursday that a legal system with Chinese characteristics has been established in China.

The legal system is based on China's national conditions and made up of the Constitution, laws and administrative regulations of the central and local governments.

China now has a complete set of laws covering all areas of social relations together with comprehensive corresponding administrative regulations and local statutes. Overall, the system of laws is scientific, harmonious and consistent and is of great significance to China's drive to build a country ruled by law.

Rule of law remains a primary target for the government to manage the country's social, economic and cultural affairs in accordance with the nation's Constitution and legal code, a strategy confirmed by the 15th National Party Congress, held in 1997.

To promote the rule of law, the country needs a well-developed legal system in which everything has a legal basis and citizens enjoy full human rights and can be the masters of their own country. The key to achieving this target is that the principle of rule of law is adhered to under the framework of the country's Constitution and legal code and that public power be subject to an effective monitoring mechanism.

As an important step toward attaining this goal, government officials should exercise their power according to the law, so as to gradually promote the systematization and legalization of a socialist democracy in the world's most populous nation.

The principles of democracy, freedom, human rights, equity, justice and the rule of law have been established under the current legal system and relevant legislation has been put in place to ensure that all people are equal before law. These provide an important legal guarantee for the cultivation of a legal consciousness among all citizens.

China's Constitution explicitly stipulates the protection of human rights and it enshrines more than 20 basic rights for Chinese citizens. In addition, the country's constitutional laws; civil, commercial and administrative laws; and economic and social laws embody specific and detailed stipulations on citizens' political, economic, social and cultural rights, that guarantee all Chinese citizens universal and realistic human rights and other basic privileges.

The country's legal system upholds the ruling status of the CPC and the people, which ensures the Party's principles and policies can be fully implemented and that its role in leading and coordinating the people and managing the affairs of the country under the framework of the Constitution and laws remains unchallengeable.

Laws and stipulations will be promulgated on the basis of changing national conditions to provide a legal guarantee for all aspects of the country and its people.

Administrative laws and systems with Chinese characteristics have been explicitly expounded that will help standardize and regulate relations between the government and the market, enterprises and society, and ensure the government exercise its functions under the current legal framework to more effectively curb the long-controversial abuses of public power and corruption. These will also aid the country's efforts to deepen the reform of its administrative system, push for the transformation of government functions and accelerate building a legally abiding government.

Under the current legal system, the independent right of the country's judicial and prosecutorial organs to exercise their respective powers has also been confirmed. The proposed reforms will ensure the two organs play a more active role in protecting people's human rights, maintaining social stability and curbing corruption.

The formation of a legal system with Chinese characteristics has basically ensured that all government departments and people have relevant laws to guide their behavior. However, the country still faces an extremely arduous task in building a more developed legal system to meet the legal demands of a well-off society in an all-round way with medium-level development.

The most urgent task following the formation of a comprehensive legal system with Chinese characteristics is how to ensure the implementation of the Constitution and laws and rule of law throughout society.

The author is director with the Institute of Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.