March ahead with rule of law

Editor's note: The following are some experts' opinions on the Fourth Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee that ended on Oct 23:

Chinese version of judicial review system

The system to ensure and supervise the implementation of the Constitution should be improved, according to the Communist Party of China's latest announcement on "comprehensively advancing the rule of law".[Special coverage]

The proposed system could be perceived as a Chinese version of the judicial review system, which has been adopted by many Western countries, including the United States and Germany. In other words, the implementation of the system has to be different in different countries.

Unlike the US and Germany, where the judicial authority and constitutional court exercise the power of constitutional review, China adheres to the leadership of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

For China's judicial review system, institutional reform is expected to take place after the Fourth Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which concluded on Oct 23. The previous system, which often failed to clarify what constituted unconstitutionality, led to a number of controversial cases in which officials abusing administrative powers violated citizens' constitutional rights.

Hence, a distinct organization is likely to be established to help the NPC with judicial review. Of course, such an organization has to function under the NPC.

Moreover, amendment to, and legislation, abolition and interpretation of laws will now get equal importance. Earlier, China's top legislature tended to focus on amendment to and abolition of laws, and paid less attention to interpretation. This will change, because interpretation of, as opposed to amendment to, existing laws could actually help solve some tricky cases.

Besides, to separate the bad laws from the good, the NPC is likely to set up a sound judicial review system.

Yao Guojian, a researcher in Constitution studies at China University of Political Science and Law

Follow own path to establish rule of law

A country's constitution is a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state is to be governed. The Communist Party of China is the ruling party in China. The Party constitution is the fundamental law that all Party members have to follow; it can also be regarded as a guideline for the Party's leading role.

The Party constitution makes it clear that the Party should abide by the country's Constitution and laws, while the latter legalizes the Party's leading role in all aspects of the nation. The State organs as well as the State's decision-making process should all be under the leadership of the Party, according to the Constitution, and the rule of law is no exception to that. It is, therefore, important that people understand China's rule of law by linking the country's Constitution and Party constitution.

China may need to learn from Western countries' experiences to promote the rule of law. But since the rule of law is a means of social governance to achieve social justice, China has to take a down-to-earth approach and follow its own path to establish the rule of law.

Qiang Shigong, a professor of law at Peking University