no circumstances can the people be treated as the object of governing by law. (3) The object of governing the country according to law is the conduct and activities of government organs and officials who administer state and social affairs and economic and cultural undertakings on behalf of the people, i.e. the governance of the country and administration of government. A public power without supervision and restriction is bound to produce corruption. So the most fundamental for governing the country according to law is governing the authorities, the government officials and leaders, according to law to prevent public power from being abused and corrupted, and to guarantee that public power should be used to serve the people. (4) The basis for governing the country according to law is the Constitution and the laws that reflect the unity of the Party’s propositions and the will of the people. Governing the country according to law is the rule of good laws, and good laws embody justice and fairness, reflect the common will of the CPC and the people, and benefit economic and social development and the well-being of the people. Governing the country according to law is based on good laws. (5) The approach of governing the country according to law is management, governance, necessary incentives, penalties, etc. (6) The purpose of governing the country according to law is to ensure that all activities of the Party and the nation are conducted in accordance with law; to institutionalize and legalize socialist democracy so that such institutions and laws will not be changed by leaders or changes in their opinions and attentions; to effectively protect the citizens’ civil rights and fundamental freedoms according to law; to regulate strictly by law public power of government organs; and to build China into a prosperous, democratic, and civilized country under the socialist rule of law.
2.2.Establishing the Rule of Law as the Basic Approach to Governing the Country
The rule of law is a concept of rich cultural connotations and realistic political notions. At the theoretical level, the rule of law mainly refers to the theories, thoughts, values, awareness, and teachings that govern and administer a country. At the institutional level, the rule of law refers mainly to the principles that generalize the legal system, procedures, and norms based on law. At the operational level, the rule of law mainly refers to the process and status of abiding by legal order and implementing laws.
The 18th National Congress of the CPC made it clear that the rule of law is the basic approach to governing the country. Xi Jinping emphasized that more attention should be paid to giving full play to the rule of law in state administration and social management. This is the Party’s new understanding of the law of socialist revolution, construction, and reform, a new realization of the laws governing the leadership and administration of the CPC, and a new requisite for the Party to lead the people in comprehensively advancing law-based governance according to law. On the one hand, the rule of law calls for the Party to uphold the principles of exercising governance effectively and democratically according to law; constantly improve the Party’s capacity for and adeptness at governance; propose and apply correct theories, lines, guidelines, policies, and tactics; lead the formulation and implementation of the Constitution and laws; and adopt a scientific leadership system and style to mobilize and organize the people to administer state and social affairs, economic and cultural undertakings according to law and effectively govern the Party, the nation, and the military affairs. On the other hand, it demands that the Party should change its approach from mainly relying on campaigns and administrative measures for governing the country and society to governing the country according to the Constitution and laws, from mainly depending on political means and policy measures to adopting the basic approach of the rule of law and the basic policy of law-based governance of the country.
Deng Xiaoping once pointed out that the first thing that the Party committee’s leadership should achieve was to ensure implementation and effectiveness of law. “Before, without a legal system, we acted largely upon policies. But after the law is established, we must act resolutely according to law”.13 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee stated that exercising state power by law is a basic approach for the Party’s governance under the new historical conditions. To achieve law-based exercise of state power is to keep to law-based governance of the country and the building of a socialist rule-of-law country. The Party must lead legislation, ensure law enforcement, and lead the way in abiding by the law; constantly promote legalization and standardization in the country’s economic, political, cultural, and social life; and guarantee that the Party leads the people in effectively governing the country with rule-of-law concepts, institutions, and procedures.
The establishment of the rule of law as the Party’s basic approach to exercising governance of the country is based on the Party’s practical experience in revolution, construction, and reform, and is a new concept concluded by the Party in leading the construction of the socialist rule of law, advancing law-based governance of the country, and exercising of state power. Its essential requisites are: First, the development of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics and the building of a socialist country ruled by law needs to keep to the organic integration of the Party’s leadership, the people being the masters of the country, and law-based governance of the country. This is the natural requisite and the essential characteristic of comprehensively advancing law-based governance of the country and building a socialist rule-of-law country. Second, the Party not only leads the people in enacting and enforcing the Constitution and the laws, but also operates within the confines of the Constitution and the laws itself so that it truly leads legislation, ensures law enforcement, supports the administration of justice, and takes the lead in abiding by the law. This is the basic content and major task of the Party in exercising governance of the country according to the Constitution and the laws. Third, we must adhere to the principle that everyone is equal before the Constitution and the laws. All organizations or individuals must confine their activities to the areas prescribed by the Constitution and the laws; no organization or individual is allowed to override the law with their own arbitrary fiats, place their own power above the law, or bend the law for personal gain. This is the basic principle and boundary line of abiding by the socialist rule of law. Fourth, the Party must act as the leading core to ensure its exercise of overall leadership and coordinate everyone’s efforts, uphold the basic policy of law-based governance of the country, and the basic approach to law-based exercising of state power. The Party should be adept at helping its propositions become the will of the country through statuary procedures, guiding the candidates it backs to become leaders of the organs of state power through these procedures, and exercising leadership over the state and society through these organs, and supporting the state, administrative, judicial, and procuratorial organs to work independently and in a coordinated manner in accordance with the Constitution and the laws. This is the general requirement and basic method for the Party to exercise governance of the country by applying the basic principle of the rule of law. Fifth, leading officials of Party organizations at all levels and Party members should take the lead in exercising the rule of law and continuously improve the Party’s capability for and adeptness of governing the country according to law, so as to constantly promote the institutionalization and legalization of all state administration activities. Leading officials at all levels should increasingly apply rule-of-law thinking and methods to deepening reforms, promoting development, resolving disputes, and maintaining their abilities to make steady progress to eventually form a rule-of-law environment in which the people consciously observe the law, look to the law if they meet with difficulties, rely on the law to resolve their problems and disputes, and promote all kinds of work on the track of the rule of law. This is the basic quality and governance capability that Party organizations and leading officials at all levels should have under the new situation of governing the country according to law.
Regulating and guaranteeing the performance of the ruling Party’s governance activities and its activities within the Party according to law is an essential requisite for adhering to the organic unity of the Party’s leadership and law-based governance of the country, and for upholding the essential characteristics of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics. In the practice that the Party leads the people to fully implement the basic principle of governing the country according to law, and in the construction process where the Party leads legislation, ensures law enforcement, and takes the lead in observing the law, the Party itself more consciously
