Since the founding of the People's Republic of China and its adoption of the reform and opening-up initiative in particular, the socialist democratic politics and rule of law have been continuously nurtured by Chinese people of all ethnic groups under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
A Socialist Constitution with Chinese characteristics has also been created and enriched. With the Marxist theory of State as the guideline, the Constitution has not only absorbed other scientific and reasonable Constitutional contents that contributed to the development of the world's politics and civilizations, but has also inherited the country's own excellent political traditions. Also, based on the ever-changing national conditions and reflecting common aspirations and interests of Chinese people, it has greatly advanced the Socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics, and especially the practice of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics.
The continuous development of the socialist Constitutional system with Chinese characteristics is attributed to the compatibility between the nature and purpose of the ruling CPC and its ruling methods with the principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law contained in the country's Constitution. It is known that the CPC comes from the people and serves the people. All of its powers originate from and also work for the general public. The Party is always attached to the interest of the people at any time. This demonstrates the Party's quintessential core of democracy. Since its founding, the fundamental purpose of the ruling Party has been to serve the people whole-heartedly, with the interests of working class and ordinary people in its mind. It holds no special interests for itself. Such an unwavering aim has been compatible with the value of human rights.
Over the past 30 years since the reform and opening-up, the Party has led Chinese people from the previous state of poverty into one of enough food and clothing. Under its leadership, Chinese people are heading toward the more ambitious goal of enjoying a moderately prosperous life and better individual rights in political, economic, cultural and social aspects.
With its actions in the past decades, the Party has fully proved itself to be the consistent protector and staunchest promoter of human rights for Chinese people. In the new historical period, the CPC has realized a transition from the previous rule of people and rule of policy to the rule of law. Administering according to laws has become the basic form of the Party's governance of the whole nation. President Hu Jintao and other top Party officials have stressed on many occasions the authority of the Constitution and other laws and have taken the lead in studying some of the country's important legal articles. It has become a common consensus among the whole Party to learn laws, abide by laws and work in accordance with laws. The agreement between the CPC's ruling ideology and the principle of the rule of law has greatly advanced the theory of the China-style socialist Constitution and its application.
The current Constitution has been the best one since the founding of New China in 1949. Based on the country's basic national conditions at the current stage, the Constitution stipulates the country's adoption of the National People's Congress system, the CPC-led multi-party cooperation and political consultation system and the regional ethnic autonomy system. A system of grassroots autonomy has also been applied in different regions. All these have laid a solid systemic foundation for the implementation of Socialist democracy. In its second chapter, the Constitution stipulates extensive rights and freedoms for Chinese citizens and explicitly states "the state shall respect and protect human rights". Such clauses have confirmed the basic principle of human rights in the country's Constitutional system. In the 1999 amendment, the clause that the People's Republic of China administers the country in accordance with law and aims to build a socialist nation under the rule of law was added, thus confirming the principle of the rule of law in the country's Constitution. Such stipulations have then been effectively practiced since then in the construction of the China-specific Socialist democracy and rule of law and have not been confined to paper. A comparatively developed Socialist democracy and rule of law have basically taken shape and the concepts of democracy, human rights and the rule of law have taken deep roots in people's minds. China's democracy, human rights and the rule of law are now in the best stage in the country's history.
President Hu Jintao points out that the rule of law means administering in the spirit of the Constitution. Such a stance by the Party chief demonstrates the supreme status of the Constitution in the construction of the country's socialist democracy and politics, especially the rule of law with Chinese characteristics. The more developed the theory and practices of the Party's socialist democracy and rule of law, the more developed the theory and practices of the China-style socialist Constitution would be.
On the basis of the great achievements made over the past 30 years since the reform and opening-up, the country should try to further construct a socialist Constitution with Chinese characteristics and make it suitable to the changed national conditions in the new historical stage. It should continue to improve and push forward the theory and practices of the socialist Constitution with Chinese characteristics and make relentless efforts for the construction of a distinctive socialist rule of law.
The author is a professor with the Wuhan University based in central Hubei province.
(China Daily February 9, 2009)