ZHANG Xiaoling & FENG Jintong*

 

Abstract: There is an inner connection between the protection of human rights and good governance. On the one hand, human rights protection is the foundation and fundamental criteria for good governance, which contains democracy, rule of law and civilization, with human rights being a cross-cutting element. On the other hand, human rights protection provides conditions and motives for realizing good governance. The latter should take human rights as fundamental value. Human rights protection is also a good test for the governance.  

 

Keywords: human rights protection    state governance    China   modernization  

 

The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms adopted during the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly stipulated for the first time ever that “The general purpose of deepening its all-round reform is to develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to advance modernization in the State governance system and governance capability”.¹ And CPC’s Central Committee’s Decision on a Number of Major Issues Concerning the Comprehensive Advancement of the Rule of Law adopted during the 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly stated that “rule of law is an essential requirement and an important guarantee for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics”.² Then, what is the relationship between human rights and the modernization of state governance? What status do human rights enjoy in the modernization of state governance? What role do human rights play? This paper tentatively explores the relationship between the two. 

 

 

The modernization of state governance is a concept with rich connotations including democratization, legalization, civilization and other factors. And human rights are the fundamental concept connecting there factors. [page]

 

 

State governance system and governance capacity are the centralized demonstration of the system of a state and the executive capacity of the system. According to Chapter 1 A New World of Our Global Neighborhood released by the Commission on Global Governance in 1995, “Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs”, governance and democratic rights are thus connected.³ Democratization emphasizes that people is the subject of governance, emphasizes on the transition from rule and management to governance and requires that all public governance and system arrangement shall ensure the position of the people as masters of the country. Democracy is the essential feature of modernized state governance and the essential difference between modernized state governance system and traditional state governance system. Therefore, modernized state governance is also called democratic governance by political scientists. 

 

The democratization of state governance methods is the recognition and affirmation of human rights, and the respect for and affirmation of the principal status of the people. The modernization of state governance emphasizes the diversification of governance, and in the framework of structural differentiation of society and multiplicity of interests, government is not only the subject of governance but also its object; Society is no longer only the governed, but it also becomes the governor. All of the above demand that we should change our concepts, establish a new value of state power, emphasize the restraint and supervision of public power, and emphasize that public power should serve people’s rights, realizing the goal that development is for the people and dependent on the people, and the fruit of the development is shared by the people. [page]

 

According to the report of the 18th CPC Central Committee, The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms adopted during the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and CPC Central Committee’s Decision on a Number of Major Issues Concerning the Comprehensive Advancement of the Rule of Law adopted during the 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in emphasizing the strengthening of the establishment of socialist democratic political system, the starting point and the foothold are always “to ensure the essence point that the position of the people is the masters of the country” and the protection of people’s rights. The report of the 18th CPC Central Committee points out that “the institutions of democracy should be improved and its forms enriched”; “We should improve its institutions and work mechanisms and promote its extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development. Extensive consultations should be carried out on major issues relating to economic and social development as well as specific problems involving the people's immediate interests through organs of state power, committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, political parties, people's organizations and other channels to solicit a wide range of opinions, pool wisdom of the people, increase consensus, and build up synergy”.⁴ The Decision of the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee points out “To develop socialist democracy, we must ensure the position of the people as masters of the country, uphold and improve the system of people's congress, the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance. We will attach greater importance to improving the system of democracy and diversifying the forms of democracy, and expand citizens' orderly political participation in all levels and fields to give full play to the strength of the socialist political system.⁵ The decisions released during the 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee points out:” We must adhere to the principle that the improvement of the rule of law is for the people, dependent on the people, beneficiary to the people and protective for the people, the starting point and foothold being to safeguard the fundamental interests of the people, ensuring that the people enjoy their wide range of lawful rights and freedom, and bear their due responsibilities, maintaining social equity and justice and promoting collective prosperity. We must ensure that the people, with CPC leadership and according to laws and regulations, manage state affairs, cultural and economic affairs and societal affairs through various means and forms.”⁶ Democracy is a major constituent of and a political guarantee for human rights. Without democracy, human rights are seldom possible. Democracy offering no protection for human rights shall also deviate from correct direction and value. Human rights are the foundation for democratized state governance. [page]

 

 

Modern rule of law is the product of human rights, and without the guarantee of human rights, there would be no real rule of law. The rule of law requires that the Constitution and laws be the highest authority for public governance, that all activities and behaviors of the State be compliant with the Constitution and laws, that the operation of public power be systemized and standardized, that all behaviors involved in state governance be conducted in line with the principle of the rule of law, and that “State governors should be adept at utilizing the thinking of the rule of law and legal system to govern the state to make full use of the predictability, operability and the ability of redemption of the rule of law, enabling various stakeholders to seek common points while reserving difference, maximizing the lawful pursuit and the realization of their own interest , and making state governance system systematic, scientific, standardized and routinized.”⁷ To democratize governance methods is to advance the rule of law in China. Rule of law in China covers three dimensions: the country under the rule of law, the government under the rule of law and the society under the rule of law. All of three dimensions take the respect for and protection of human rights as their basic symbol. During the building of governing the country with rule of law, the building of the country should take the respect for and protection of human rights as its value goal; during the building of governing the government with rule of law, the public power of government should be restrained, and human rights should be guaranteed and achieved; during the building of governing the society with rule of law, the principle status of the people should be upheld, and the participation rights of citizens should be ensured. Through placing necessary restraints on all private and public powers, the rule of law guarantees the basic rights of citizens. The rule of law which doesn’t take the protection of human rights as its goal is no rule of law in real sense. [page]

 

Human rights are a criterion to measure whether governors have modernized governance abilities. The rule of law is of utmost importance in state governance, and good methods are the prerequisite for good governance. The rule of law is the internal requirement for conducting businesses concerning state governance, and the prerequisite of the rule of law is good methods which must protect human rights. Therefore, human rights protection is the basic sign of the rule of law and a key symbol of state governance ability and the modernization of governance system. Mr. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of CPC stated: “Leaders and cadres at every level must take the lead to conduct businesses in accordance with laws, abide by laws, firmly establish the concept that the red lines of laws are untouchable, and the bottom line of laws is not to be crossed. Powers that are not legally yours shall not be enforced by you, words mustn’t be taken as laws, powers mustn’t overcome laws, and laws mustn’t be utilized for private interest.”⁸ To merge the spirit of the rule of law into state governance is to establish and strengthen the holy concept and belief of human rights and citizen’s rights, and to ensure the priority of human rights and citizen’s rights among various considerations. This is the internal requirement to make people live in freedom and with respect.⁹

 

The rule of law is an important element in supporting the state governance system and governance ability. It makes no sense to discuss modernization of state governance without the improvement of the rule of law, and it also makes no sense to discuss the improvement of the rule of law and the modernization of state governance without human rights. The goal of the modernization of state governance is to create a system that protects human rights. The Constitution and laws must be constantly perfected to answer reasonable demands which are increasingly abundant from the people, to make human rights the fundamental spiritual core for various institutions within state governance system, and to provide reasonable core for the modernization of state governance system and governance ability. [page]

 

3.The modernization of state governance calls for the realization of the civilization of governance
 

Civilization is established on the foundation of all values that are most beautiful in human society. Those values include liberty, equality and fraternity, and human rights are the concentrated reflection of all those beautiful values. Therefore, the civilization of state governance emphasizes that human is the center and their comprehensive development should be promoted, demands that in the concept of state governance and in the process of governing, people should be respected and protected, requires “less coercion and more consensus”, “the achievement ofthe goal of governance through service”, “more dialogs, negotiation, communication and cooperation” and “less repulsion and discrimination”¹⁰ Civilization calls for the consciousness of human rights of all society, opposes the ugly phenomenon in which humans are treated as if they were animals, opposes mammonism and extreme egoism, requires the establishment of correct rights value and obligation value and the correct handling of the relationship between rights and obligations among individuals and between individuals and groups, and calls for the establishment of human rights as the value consensus for all in the society and the formation of a human rights culture. The modernization of a country is not merely demonstrated by its GDP indicators, but better told by the modernization, i.e. civilization of its people. The modernization of state governance calls for the accomplishment of the civilization of governance. 

 

The respect for and protection of human rights represents a brand new humanity spirit and beautiful ideal. It is also the most fundamental moral standard and moral baseline, as well as the basic symbol for the advancement of human civilization. In modernized state governance, the improvement of human value is emphasized, which is exactly the exemplification of the improvement achieved in human rights. 

 

In the modernization of state governance, human rights are connected with three major issues: who to govern, how to govern, and why to govern, all of which take human rights as their foundation and assessment objective. All in all, human rights protection is the inevitable demand and value goal of the modernization of state governance as well as the basic standard to measure the modernization of state governance.[page]

 

II.Human rights are the prerequisite for and basic symbol of the realization of the modernization of state governance 
 

As the foundation and a criterion for the modernization of state governance, human rights provide conditions and momentum for the realization of the modernization of state governance. 

 

1.The modernization of state governance demands to take human rights as the fundamental value goal which a nation pursuits 
 

At present, around the globe, human rights are a common criterion for measuring the modernization of state governance, and they are in the fundamental and core position in state governance. The modernization of state governance should take the achievement of human rights as its fundamental value goal. Only the modernization established on the basis of the respect for and the protection of human rights is the modernization that is in line with the advancement of human civilization. The protection of human rights provides value guidance for the building of state governance system. 

 

Human rights are the goal of state governance innovation and point out the direction of governance innovation. The modernization of state governance system and governance ability places emphasis on the transition from rule and management to governance, and the transition into new governance methods from conventional governance methods is an innovation concerning governance principle and governance methods. Human rights are the fundamental driving force that pushes the innovation of governance principle and governance methods forward. 

 

The legality of regime is an important feature of the modernization of state governance, and human rights protection is not only the foundation for the legality of government but also an essential condition for the effectiveness of state governance modernization. State governance system that protects human rights is the basis for people to support such system. Human rights protection is the condition for people to agree to be governed by their government. Legality is the property and status in which the general public conscientiously approves and abides by public power and social order, and it reflects the considerable trust and approval of the people towards political communities, basic systems and major policies. The only way to accomplish the modernization of state governance is to internalize human rights into various governance bodies and to embody it in the design and operation of governance systems. [page]

 

The idea of human rights is rooted deep in the value appeals of the general public. We must excavate proper factors of human rights protection from our traditional culture, nurture and promote the core value systems and core values of socialism with efforts, and speed up the establishment of value systems which fully reflect Chinese characteristics, national characteristics and features of the times. General Secretary, Mr. Xi points out, to uphold our value systems and core values, we must exert the influence of our culture. We must strengthen the excavation and explanation of excellent traditional Chinese culture and put great efforts into the realization of the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture. We must promote the cultural spirits which are unlimited by time, space and national boundaries, and which are always charming and valuable for the times. We must spread far and wide the innovation results of present Chinese culture which inherits excellent traditional culture and promotes the spirit of the times, and which is domestic but world-oriented. As long as the Chinese pursue beautiful and noble moral realm, our nation will always be full of hope.¹¹

 

2.The modernization of state governance is committed to the formation of good governance pattern that is achieved through negotiated governance and joint governance
 

Human rights protection is the motivation for the realization of good governance. In the pattern of good governance, the subjects of governance are diversified: they include public departments, private departments, NGOs and private citizens.[page]

 

A nation’s choice of governance system is determined by its historical inheritance, cultural traditions, and the level of social and economic development as well as by its people. Our present governance system is formed on the basis of our historical inheritance, cultural traditions and social and economic development. It is the result of a long-term development, gradual improvement and internal transformation. At present, Chinese society is undergoing dramatic changes, which lead to the formation of different interest groups. Interest conflict becomes more obvious, some government employees, especially leaders, lack strong principle in handling matters, or they are incompetent, there still exists deliberate law breaking, substituting laws with words, abusing power to render laws ineffective and the abuse of laws for personal gains, the general public share a strong reaction towards social injustice and corruption, and many existing systems and mechanisms severely impede the advancement of society. All these problems are a test for the governance ability of our country. To solve these problems and deal with these issues, we must depend on reform. And through comprehensive and thorough reform, we can accomplish the modernization of state governance system and governance ability and provide long-acting policies.¹²

 

To achieve joint governance is implied in the modernization of state governance. This joint governance raises a higher requirement for the governor’s governance abilities, which include the ability that comes with advanced value ideal and the ability of utilizing systems to conduct effective governance, and human rights are the source and power for the formation of these abilities. In other words, the formation of the pattern of negotiated governance and joint governance requires especially that human rights be the guarantee. To achieve real good governance requires the respect for and protection of citizens’ basic rights, and the inspiration of public participation to reflect the principal status of the people. Besides, adequate respect for human rights is indispensable basic awareness that state governors must have. And to take human rights as the value pursuit of governance and shared value among all society will further the society’s recognition of the legality of state governance, and promote effective state governance. [page]

 

3.Human rights are a criterion by which the modernization of state governance system is tested
 

As human entered the 21st century, human rights have become an important sign to test whether a country is modernized. As an important part of the modernization of state, system modernization also takes human rights protection as its criterion. Therefore, human rights are the foundation of and a criterion for the modernization of state governance system, which requires that in the building of state systems, we must innovate systems and institutions from the viewpoint and height of human rights, and reform systems and institutions that are against human rights. 

 

State governance system, which is the institutional system with which to govern the country, includes the institution, mechanism, laws, regulations and arrangement concerning economics, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization. It’s a set of closely connected, collaborative state systems. Only the state system that takes human rights protection as its content and goal is the system that meets the requirement of modernization. To advance the modernization of state governance, we need to highlight human rights protection, and as soft power, human rights directly determine the failure or success of state governance to some degree, and they are closely related to the great revival of the Chinese Nation and realization of Chinese dreams.  

 

The modernization of state governance ability refers to the ability to utilize state system to govern various businesses of the society. “We must adapt to the overall process of the modernization of the country, enhance the Party’s capacity to govern in a scientific and democratic way and in accordance with the law, improve the ability of state organs to perform their duties, improve people’s abilities to govern state affairs, economic, social and cultural affairs and their own affairs, realize the systemization, standardization and programming of the governance of various affairs of the Party, state and society, and to continuously improve the ability to employ socialistic system with Chinese characteristics to effectively govern the country.”¹³ The Decision of the 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee points out that Party members and officials are important organizers, promoters and practitioners for thoroughly advancing state governance under the rule of law. We should ensure that leading officials are guided by law in both thinking and action in their effort to deepen reform, promote development, solve problems, and maintain stability.¹⁴ Party leaders’ ability to utilize the guidance by law both in thinking and action to conduct governance implies human rights factors. According to Chinese constitution, the state should respect and protect human rights. Reforms should have legal base, which means we must respect the constitution and take the protection of human rights as its value goal.  [page]

 

To push forward the modernization of state governance system and governance ability, we must take human rights as the criteria, reform institutions and systems that do not meet the requirements of actual development, continuously establish new institutions and systems, and make various systems more scientific and more perfect. The 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee demands that we should establish sound legal system, effective implementation system, rigorous supervision system and powerful guarantee system for the rule of law, and we should establish sound internal regulatory system for the party. All these systems are important constituents of the modernization of state governance system, and during their establishment, human rights have been taken as value goal. Without taking human rights as their value goal, such systems can seldom be called modernized state governance system. 

 

III.The efforts and achievements China has made in promoting human rights and the modernization of state governance 
 

Human rights, democracy, rule of law and the modernization of state governance are internally connected and inseparable. Human rights mean a lot for the modernization of state governance, and they are the foundation of and fundamental criteria for the modernization of state governance. The basic goal of promoting the modernization of state governance is to better protect human rights. 

 

Ever since the founding of PRC, especially since Reform and Opening-up, China has achieved great accomplishments in the building of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. In March 2004, the 2nd session of the 10th National People’s Congress approved an amendment to the Constitution. “The state should respect and protect human rights” was added to the constitution, opening a new chapter for the development of human rights in China. [page]

 

Democracy is the result of the development of human political civilization and people of various nations in the world generally demand it. It is the internal requirement of the development of socialist democracy to respect and protect human rights and to ensure that people enjoy their wide range of rights and freedom in accordance with the law. Ever since the beginning of Reform and Opening-up in the late 1970s, China has been deepening reforms in its economic systems, meanwhile, it has also been steadily promoting reforms in its political institutions. The result of such reforms is that China’s democratic system becomes more perfect and its forms of democracy become richer. 

 

In socialist democracy, all state powers belong to the people, and people enjoy various rights stipulated in the country’s constitution and laws. China’s socialist democracy is established on the basis of human rights protection. 

 

Participation by citizens is a core issue of democratic politics and an essential condition for good governance. In recent years, the equality of China’s election participation is better guaranteed; the participation of democratic consultation keeps improving, and various forms of democratic consultation begins to prosper at grass-root level in China, including democratic talkfest, democratic hearing, community council; the participation of NGOs keeps growing steadily, and as of late June 2013, 506,700 social organizations with a total employment of over 12 million have been registered in accordance with law in China, of which 273,000 are social groups, 230,000 are private non-corporate units and 3713 are foundations. Civil groups have become an important influence in political participation; and governments at various levels are more tolerant to citizens’ political expression. Unconventional forms of citizen participation increased; public fields become more transparent. Transparency of government is an inevitable demand and foundation for the participation of the general public, and Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information implemented on May 1st, 2008 provides legal basis for the protection of citizens’ rights to information. The system of the disclosure of government information is been put into practice, for example, in March 2010, eight central organs including the Ministry of Finance disclosed their annual financial budgets on their respective websites. Governments at various levels have established press spokesman systems. Hearings and disclosure of full texts are employed to collect opinions and suggestions from various social groups before the introduction of major laws and policies by central and local governments. We should meet the demand of the general public for the rights to know and guarantee citizens’ supervisory rights. And the disclosure of government affairs, village affairs and corporate affairs is also constantly developing. Political participation through the Internet is in the ascendant, and the Internet has become a new way for Chinese citizens to participate in politics. On the one hand, Qiangguo Forum (Forum on Building a Powerful Nation), Tianya, Weibo, Blogs and QQ groups and other social networking platforms provided ample room for netizens to express their opinions and have become a new channel for the expression of public opinions. On the other hand, as the netizens’ enthusiasm for political participation through the Internet keeps soaring, governments constantly innovate on relevant institutions to show respect for public opinions.  [page]

 

The portal website of People’s Republic of China has been online since January 2006, emails and telephone numbers have been publicized on government websites at various levels, and Mayor’s mailboxes and the mailboxes of county magistrates are widely established to collect letters from the public. A lot of issues reflected via the Internet have been resolved.  

 

The Chinese government also opened up various channels including Green Post, Special Lines, Petition via Internet and Petition Proxy to help the general public report their problems, express their appeals and offer opinions and suggestion. In the past three years, over several million pieces of suggestion has been collected via the Internet each year, which offered useful reference for the government in making their work better. To collect opinions via the internet before the introduction of major policies has become a norm for governments at various levels. To facilitate the process in which the general public report issues such as corruption, the supervisory organ of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate all launched tip-off websites. Leaders of China often surf the Internet to get to know public opinions, and sometimes they communicate with netizens directly and answer questions for them. Political participation via the Internet has become a new electronic form for democracy, and it is an important driving force to advance the development of Chinese democracy. 

 

It is a great contribution to the development of human political civilization that China’s socialist democratic politics makes the people of this Eastern Nation in which nearly one fifth of global population live to be masters in their own country and social life, and enjoy widespread democratic rights. The 3rd Plenary Session of the 18 the CPC Central Committee further demands that we should enhance socialist democracy in a systemic way by adopting due standards and procedures, and that we should build China as a socialist country under the rule of law and make people's democracy more extensive, fuller in scope and sounder in practice. 

 

Human rights are the prerequisite for the rule of law, and the rule of law is the guarantee for human rights. As UN documents point out that “In a society under the rule of law, everybody feels that their safety is guaranteed, their disputes can be resolved peacefully, their injuries can be compensated effectively, and that all those who break laws should be called to account.”[page]

 

To uphold the rule of law is a fundamental principle by which the Party leads the people in governing China. In 1999, “The People’s Republic China should implement the rule of law and establish itself as a socialist country based on the rule of law” was written into PRC Constitution. In 2012, General Secretary, Mr. Xi pointed out “Only with the guarantee that all citizens are equal before the law, human rights are respected and protected, and people enjoy their wide range of rights and freedom in accordance with the law, can the Constitution get into the hearts of the people and be accepted by the people, and can the implementation of the constitution be really the conscious action of all the people”; “We must protect the wide range of rights of the general public, and ensure that citizens really enjoy their economic, cultural and social rights, work hard to maintain the basic benefit for the widest range of the general public and ensure that the general public have the rights to look forward to and pursue comfortable life.”¹⁵ The statement disclosed the relationship between the rule of law and human rights profoundly.

 

Today, a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is basically in place and the building of the rule of the law in China is further emphasized in the country. In 2013, the Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms adopted during the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed the new concept of “China under the rule of law” clearly and that “To build China under the rule of law, we must advance state governance, political implementation and administration under the rule of law jointly, and uphold the integrated building of a country, a government and a society under the rule of law. We must deepen the reforms of judicial systems and speed up the establishment of a just, effective and authoritative socialist judicial system.”¹⁶ The building of the rule of law in China and the advancement of the modernization of state governance system and governance ability are of the same process. 

 

In the explanation on the building of the rule of law during the 3rd Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, “We must improve the judicial system to protect human rights. The state must respect and protect human rights. We must further standardize the judicial procedure concerning the sealing-up, withholding, freezing and handling of properties involved in criminal cases. We must perfect the institution for the prevention, correction and accountability of misjudged cases, forbid forced confession and physical abuse, and strictly implement exclusionary rule of illegally obtained evidence. We must gradually reduce criminal offences that lead to death sentence and abolish the institution of reform through labor.” From the above explanation, it is obvious that China is more concerned about utilizing the rule of law to improve state governance and social administration. China further underlined the perfection of the legislation of human rights, strict law enforcement and a fair and just judicial system. We must advance the institutionalization of human rights protection, and ensure the general public enjoy their wide range of rights and freedom. The protection of human rights from the rule of law is improving. [page]

 

The 4th Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed that the overall goal of the comprehensive advancement of state governance under the rule of law is the establishment a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and a socialist China under the rule of law. In other words, with CPC leadership, we must uphold our socialist system with Chinese characteristics, implement socialist legal theory with Chinese characteristics, establish a comprehensive system of codes and standards, an effective implementation system, a strict supervisory system and a powerful guarantee system for the rule of law, establish a sound system of laws and regulations within the Party, uphold the principle of state governance, political implementation and political administration under the rule of law jointly, uphold the integrated building of a country, a government and a society under the rule of law, achieve the goal of scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, a just and fair judicial system and law observation by all citizens, and promote the modernization of state governance system and governance ability. 

 

In a word, the fundamental objective to promote the modernization of state governance is to better protect human rights. And the respect for and protection of human rights is a necessary requirement for the promotion of the modernization of state governance and governance ability. The modernization of state governance system is bound to elevate our protection of human rights to a new development level. 

 

* ZHANG Xiaoling(张晓玲), Professor and vice dean of Department of Politics & Laws and dean of the Human Rights Center, the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC.

 

FENG Jintong（冯巾桐）, doctoral student at the graduate school of law, the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC.

 

1.CPC Central Committee’s Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2013, p3.

 

2.CPC’s Central Committee’s Decision on a Number of Major Issues Concerning the Comprehensive Advancement of the Rule of Law, Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2014, pp.1-3.

 

3.Li long and Ren Yin, “On the Study of State Governance and Human Rights Protection”, The Journal of Wuhan University’s Philosophy and Social Sciences, No.5, 2014.

 

4.Hu Jintao, “Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects-Report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China,” Beijing: People’s publishing House, No.8, 2012, pp.25-26.[page]

 

5.Same as footnote1, p.28.

 

6.Ibid., p. 6.

 

7.Jiang Bixin, “Advancing the Modernization of State Governance System and Governance Ability,” Guangming Daily, November 15th, 2013.

 

8.Xi Jinping, “Leaders and Cadres at Various Levels Must Take the Lead to Conduct Businesses in Accordance with Laws and Firmly Establish the Principle that the Red Line of Laws Are not To be Touched,” People’s Daily, January 9th, 2014.

 

9.Zhang Wenxian, “The Modernization of Rule of Law and State Governance”, China Legal Science, No.4, 2014.

 

10.He Zengke, “How to Interpret State Governance and its Modernization,” Report on Current Issues, No.1, 2014.

 

11.Xi Jinping’s speech on the opening ceremony of the class studying the spirits of the 3rd session of the 18th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee’s comprehensively deepening reform to major leaders and cadres at the provincial and ministerial-level.

 

12.Jiang Bixin, “Study on Fundamental Issues Concerning the Modernization of State Governance,” the Journal of Central South University (Social Sciences), No.3, 2014.

 

13.Xi Jinping, “Perfect and Develop Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics and Advance the Modernization of State Governance System and Governance Ability,” People’s Daily, February 18th, 2014.

 

14.Same as footnote 2, p. 36.[page]

 

15.Xi Jinping’s speech on celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Publication and Implementation of the Constitution in Beijing, published in People’s Daily on December 5th, 2012.

 

16.Same as footnote 1, pp.31-32.