BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- With the Communist Party of China (CPC) setting a new blueprint for rule of law during a key meeting this week, people in China are building hopes that their rights and interests will be better protected in a more law-abiding society.
At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held between Oct. 20 to 23, the CPC declared sweeping judical reforms while hailing the overarching role of the Constitution in the country's legal system.
The CPC also pledged to rule the world's most populous country and second largest economy in accordance with the Constitution and build a law-abiding government.
Cao Hongxin, managing director of a private electric enterprise in East China's Jiangsu Province, said rule of law is the foundation of a well-functioning market economy and the CPC's new blueprint will certainly provide a more leveled play for private entrepreneurs in China.
"This is a good thing we entrepreneurs have been eagerly anticipating," said Cao.
The carefully-worded communique issued after the plenary session promised legal reforms that are aimed at giving judges more independence and limiting local officials' influence over courts and cases.
According to the document, they will develop a system in which officials will be given demerits or held accountable if they are found interfering in judicial cases.
Officials will be criticized in public notices if they influence judicial activities or meddle in a particular case, it said, adding that judicial injustice can inflict a "lethal damage" to social justice.
Wei Daxing, a 46-year old farmer and village Party chief in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, also viewed the CPC Central Committee's communique in a plain perspective.
The rule of law, he said, is ultimately to meet the demands of the common people and safeguard their interests.
"Adhering to law is important to a village as well as to a nation. Only when law is enforced indiscriminately and fairly can the interests of the people be protected and the faith of the public in law be established," said Wei.
Prof. Ma Huaide, vice president of China University of Political Science and Law, noted that this is the first time that the Party has explicitly banned officials from meddling in judicial cases and vowed to hold violators accountable in a CPC document.
Echoing Wei, the farmer village party chief, Ma said, "Only by ensuring judicial organs' independent practice of justice, independent from influences such as administrative orders, personal relations or money, could the public feel the fairness and justice in the judicial process."
Another encouraging feature of the CPC's plan is the recurrent reference to the Constitution as the "core" of the country's socialist system of laws.
"To realize the rule of law, the country should be ruled in line with the Constitution," the document read.
Fan Ti, a senior lawyer in central China's Hubei Province, said this again shows CPC's resolve to put power into an institutional cage. The key point of governing the country in accordance with the law is to make everybody's interest to be fairly guarded by the law so that everyone will have genuine faith in law.
While buoyed up the CPC's decision to advance to the rule of law, many Chinese remain sober. They point out the realization of the blueprint will take time and efforts.
Yao Jianjun, a local court judge in Xi'an, said the there is still a long and arduous way to go before people can feel and acknowledge judicial equity and justice. He said judges like him are determined to defend judicial justice.
Shi Jie, a national political advisor, believes the implementation of an all-rounded rule of law in China will be a tough project. How to better set power boundary, how to fully implement existing rules and other issues concerning rule of law all await better answers.
Moreover, Zhang Tongjun, a local court official in East China's Shandong Province, said to advance rule of law requires increasing legal awareness among every citizen.
This is the first time a plenary session of the CPC Central Committee has taken rule of law as its central theme.
According to the communique, the four-day meeting adopted a decision from the CPC Central Committee on "major issues concerning comprehensively advancing rule of law."
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