The Communist Party of China (CPC) held the Central Committee Conference on Comprehensive Rule of Law on November 16-17, in which all seven standing committees participated, and Xi Jinping put forward 11 requirements for the comprehensive rule of law. Not long ago, the CPC postponed the goal of building a rule-of-law state to 15 years from now, and now, all of a sudden, a comprehensive rule-of-law conference is held, for what purpose?
The rule of law conference took place only two weeks after the conclusion of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and one sentence in the Communiqué of the Fifth Plenary Session was quite thought-provoking: by 2035, China will have “basically built a country, a government, and a society based on the rule of law. Someone commented that the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s mantra whenever a foreign journalist asks about the persecution of political dissidents is “China is a state governed by the rule of law”, and that the Fifth Plenum is making it clear that 15 years from now, don’t expect the current government to be a “government governed by the rule of law! “China is a “rule of law society” and China is a “rule of law country” now. Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhao Ziyang secretary Bao Tong commented, “five years ago announced ‘2020 basically built the government of the rule of law’ is a waste, delayed another 14 years to 2035, the government can not implement equality before the law, the state and the government and the law is to govern you rule you, not to protect you. “
The just-concluded central rule of law work conference, Xi Jinping did not reintroduce the issue of when to basically build a rule of law state, government, society, but stressed “to adhere to the Party’s leadership of the comprehensive rule of law”, that the core of the comprehensive rule of law is to adhere to the Party’s leadership, is not the CPC leadership of the rule of law is not adhere to and comprehensive! Coverage? There seems to be a clearer explanation of this in Xi’s 11 demands: we should use the rule of law thinking and rule of law means to consolidate the CPC’s ruling position, improve the ruling style, improve the ruling capacity, and ensure the regime’s long-term stability.
It turns out that the core issue is still the security of the regime, and Xi Jinping says that we should promote the rule of law at home and abroad in an integrated manner, use the rule of law to effectively respond to challenges, prevent risks, and fight by comprehensive use of legislation, law enforcement, and judicial means. Among the 11 requirements Xi stressed, one key requirement is that “we should firmly grasp the ‘key minority’ of leading cadres”. They are required to “take the lead in respecting the rule of law and fearing the law”. According to some observers, the Communist Party has been conducting a “Yan’an Rectification” within the political and legal system for several months, and senior political and legal officials have been falling from their horses. The elimination of dissent within the party is particularly important to the Xi regime, as it is merely a weapon to suppress civil opposition.
One obvious feature of Xi’s regime since he came to power has been the substitution of “political rules” for laws, most notably in the recent case of Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, who openly dismissed as “patriots who love Hong Kong rule Hong Kong; those who oppose China and disrupt Hong Kong are out.” It has been described as a “political rule”. According to an analysis by someone familiar with the CCP’s politics, Xi’s rule has turned the rules governing the party into “rule of law” and “party rule” into “Xi rule,” and many of the phrases used are distinctly Chinese. Personality, big patriarchal, and triadic colors. For example, the phrase “to deliberate on the central government” has the characteristics of a typical mafia cutout. Xi Jinping’s comprehensive rule of law is no exception, such as “respecting the rule of law and fearing the law”. The object of deference is the Xi core, the Xi Party Central Committee, and Xi Jinping himself, not the rule of law and the law itself.
A glimpse of the true status of the rule of law and the law in Xi’s words can be seen in a similar communiqué issued by the official media after the conclusion of the Communist Party of China’s Working Conference on the Rule of Law, in which a series of three “Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law” are used in a similar introductory section, claiming that it provides a profound answer to the question of why and how the rule of law should be fully implemented in the new era. A series of major issues, such as the rule of law, is a major theoretical innovation that has emerged, and “Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law” is also an important part of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” so it is important to “Effectively implement Xi Jinping’s Thought on the Rule of Law into the whole process of comprehensively adhering to the rule of law”. But what is the meaning of Xi Jinping’s rule of law ideology? Unclear.
After Xi Jinping emphasized that the leading cadres should “take the lead in respecting the rule of law and fearing the law” and other 11 requirements he asked for, Li Keqiang, who presided over the meeting, summed up how important “Xi Jinping’s important speech” was. In the past few years, the Chinese government has been promoting the concept of “four consciousness”, “four confidence” and “two maintenance”. Wang Huning summed up his speech by saying, “General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech is final, broad in vision, rich in connotation and profound in thought, reflecting far-reaching strategic thinking and distinctive political orientation. ……” and so on.
As Xi Jinping reaches the zenith of his power, he seems to be increasingly in need of the blessing of others and of protection against major risks. In this context, it does not really matter when the society he calls the rule of law is built; what matters is to ensure the long-term stability of the Communist regime, which is to say, to ensure that Xi, who is poised to rule for a long time, will stay in power for a long time.
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