Rule Of Law In China: Progress And Problems. Lin Li

according to the Constitution. This thus provides basic conditions of and important foundations for the realization of human rights. The administrative law enforcement in protecting human rights is realized mainly through better performance of statutory duties and responsibilities by administrative organs at all levels, stringent administration of government according to law, and strict enforcement of laws and regulations. This thus ensures that all human rights stipulated in the Constitution can be executed, and every citizen can enjoy the specific rights and interests that constitute socialist human rights. The judicial protection of human rights is an indispensable remedy and the last line of defense in the realization of human rights. It has a unique and important position and role in China’s human rights guarantee system.

      Xi Jinping pointed out that China must guarantee that all the citizens can enjoy rights in accordance with the law, that all kinds of rights of the citizens such as personal rights, property rights, and basic political rights must be protected from infringement, that all economic, cultural, and social rights of the citizens must be implemented, that the fundamental interests of the people must be protected, and that the people’s desire for and pursuit of a better life must be safeguarded.

      To respect and protect human rights and ensure that all citizens enjoy a wide range of rights in accordance with the law, China not only stipulates in the Constitution the basic rights and freedoms enjoyed by citizens but also details the civil rights and their protection in laws and regulations. China not only protects by substantive law citizens to fully enjoy their substantive rights, but also stipulates the procedural rights of citizens in procedural law, which offers procedural law protection for citizens to enjoy their substantive rights. Chinese citizens not only enjoy domestic human rights stipulated in the constitutional law, but also enjoy a wide range of international human rights included in international human rights conventions as ratified by China.

      From 1978 to 2011, China enacted nearly 160 laws and regulations concerning the protection of human rights. These include: first, laws and regulations on the protection of economic, social, and cultural rights, including Labor Law, Employment Promotion Law, Labor Contract Law, Work Safety Law, Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law, Trade Union Law, Compulsory Education Law, Staff Paid Leave Regulations, Regulations on Prohibition of the Use of Child Labor, and so on; second, laws and regulations on the protection of civil and political rights like General Principles of the Civil Law, Criminal Law, State Compensation Law, Consumer Compensation Law, Inheritance Law, Property Law, Tort Liability Law, and Marriage Law; third, laws and regulations on the protection of special groups’ rights including Marriage Law, Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women, Law on the Protection of Minors, Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, Law on the Protection of the Handicapped, Health Law and Regulations on Labor and Welfare Protection for Women Workers; fourth, laws and regulations on human rights protection in the judicial field, including Criminal Procedure Law, Prison Law, Civil Procedure Law, Administrative Litigation Law, State Compensation Law, and Lawyers’ Law; finally, laws and regulations on the protection of environmental rights and other aspects, including environmental protection law, water pollution control law, and so on.

      China has actively ratified international human rights conventions and protects the broad rights of its citizens in accordance with international human rights laws. Up to now, China has ratified 27 international human rights conventions, including the United Nation’s International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. In addition, China also recognized 14 international labor conventions ratified by the Kuomintang government (1930–1947) in 1984 and signed the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in October 1998. Till now, China has established a set of legal systems on the protection of human rights that take the Constitution as the core and other laws and administrative regulations as its main body.

      In order to better implement the Constitution and other laws and promote the development of the human rights cause, China released the National Action Plan on Human Rights (2009–2010) in April 2009. This is the first time for China to formulate its national planning on the theme of human rights. It is a historic breakthrough and can be regarded as a milestone in the development of China’s human rights cause. Based on the successful completion of the first phase of the human rights action plan and the experiences gained, China released the new National Plan of Action for Human Rights (2012–2015) in June 2012, proposing its mission statement, roadmap, and timetable for achieving the phased goals of exercising full respect and protection of human rights in China.

      The Resolution on Certain Major Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform in China, released in the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC, made a reform plan on how to perfect the judicial guarantee system for human rights in eight important aspects, including further standardizing the system of sealing-up, sequestrating, freezing, handling assets involved in legal cases, improving the mechanisms for preventing and correcting misstatements and the accountability system, gradually reducing the number of charges applying to death penalty, abolishing the system of reeducation through labor, improving the community correction system, perfecting the national judicial aid system, improving the legal aid system, and perfecting the lawyer system. These contents and requirements are important guidelines for continuously improving China’s judicial guarantee system for human rights.

       2.4.Establishment of the Legal System with Chinese Characteristics as Scheduled

      The formation of a socialist legal system to realize that there are laws to abide by is the key task for building the rule of law in China in the new era and is also one of the basic objectives of China’s legislation in the new era.

      In 1982, for the first time, the work report of the Fifth Session of the Fifth NPC explicitly stated: “Legislation must proceed from the actual situation in our country and gradually establish an independent legal system with Chinese characteristics”.

      In 1987, the report of the 13th CPC National Congress announced to the world: “China’s effort on building a socialist democracy and legal system is gradually developing. A socialist legal system based on the Constitution has been basically formed”.

      In March 1988, the first session of the Seventh NPC pointed out: “The significant progress made in the legislative work in the past 5 years has made it no longer practicable for China to go on without laws for the political, economic, and social life of the country. There are laws to follow. The socialist legal system based on the Constitution has been initially formed”.

      In 1993, in order to deepen the reform in economic structure, and establish a socialist market economy, the CPC Central Committee stated in its Decision on Some Issues Concerning the Establishment of a Socialist Market Economic Structure that “the objective of the legal system construction is to speed up the economic legislation, further improve the civil, commercial, and criminal laws, and laws on state institutions and administration management, and initially establish a legal system that is adapted to the socialist market economy by the end of this century”.

      In 1994, the Second Session of the Eighth NPC Standing Committee proposed: “In accordance with the constitutional requirements, the Standing Committee takes economic legislation as its first task and strives to form a framework for a socialist market economic law system during the current tenure”.

      In 1997, the work report of the Fifth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth NPC concluded: The Standing Committee “pays close attention to legislation and takes an important step towards establishing a legal system for the socialist market economy … The legal framework for the socialist market economy has begun to take shape”.

      In 1997, while establishing the basic policy of governing the country according to law, the 15th National Congress of the CPC set the goal of completing the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics by the year 2010.

      The formation of a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics spanning from 1997 to 2010 and the realization of this legislative goal in these 13 years can be broadly divided into three periods:

      The period of the Ninth NPC (1998–2003), in which “the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics takes shape”. The “taking shape” here refers to the legal system, based