[Original] Xu Qirui: The Theoretical Dimensions, Value Standards, and Practical Directions of Persistently Promoting the Construction of Intra-Party Regulations
Since the beginning of the New Era, the construction of the system of intra-Party regulations of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has achieved unprecedented success, forming a "relatively complete system of intra-Party regulations." In the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country and the comprehensive advancement of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the key lies with the Party; in perfecting the system of Party leadership [1] and improving the system for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, the foundation lies in regulations. The fundamental role of intra-Party regulations in Party building and their supportive role in Party leadership determine their pivotal status within the Party's institutional structure. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress put forward the requirement to "improve the system of intra-Party regulations and enhance the authority and enforcement of intra-Party regulations." Standing at a new historical starting point, the Party's theory, values, and practices provide directional guidance and inexhaustible momentum for the further development and perfection of the system of intra-Party regulations.
I. Theory: The Internal Support for the Construction of Intra-Party Regulations
Intra-Party regulations are an important component of the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics; they are the institutional manifestation of the Party's unified will, the institutional norms for the Party's leadership and Party building activities, and the institutional support for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. Theory is the precursor to action. Attaching great importance to theoretical construction and theoretical guidance is a basic requirement for the advanced nature of a Marxist party; it is a distinct political character and a powerful political advantage that allows our Party to remain at the forefront of the times. The pivotal position of intra-Party regulations within the Party's institutional structure dictates that their construction cannot proceed without the guidance of advanced theory. As an original and pioneering institutional practice of our Party in contemporary China and the world today, intra-Party regulations inevitably contain the Party's theoretical presuppositions in the field of institutional construction, and the regulations themselves will undergo a continuous process of theorization.
Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has achieved a new leap in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism and serves as the fundamental compliance for all the Party's work. Since the 18th National Congress, the most important reason for the great achievements in the construction of intra-Party regulations has been the adherence to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, using it as the fundamental compliance for formulating and revising intra-Party regulations, and promoting their consolidation, development, and improvement along the correct track. Simultaneously, the theoretical and academic circles have provided broad and profound theoretical support for the construction of intra-Party regulations. Experts and scholars from multiple disciplines—including Party history and Party building, Marxist theory, law, and political science—have given sustained attention to this field, offering theoretical suggestions from different research interests, levels, and perspectives. They have conducted extensive discussions and in-depth deliberations on foundational issues such as the concept, attributes, and boundaries of intra-Party regulations; on formal rationality issues such as the systemic structure, hierarchy of validity, and basic categories; and on substantive normative issues such as goals, tasks, targets of adjustment, and content. These consensuses have been incorporated into specific plans for the development and improvement of intra-Party regulations, thereby forming a positive interaction mechanism between the subjects of formulation and the subjects of theoretical construction.
II. Values: The Spiritual Signpost for the Construction of Intra-Party Regulations
Value is the soul of a system, while the system is the body of the value. The century-long evolution of intra-Party regulations has developed along the Party's value lineage. The Party's value system inherently prescribes the attributes of intra-Party regulations and determines that their direction of development cannot deviate. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "the core issue to be resolved is: for whom?" [2] The reason intra-Party regulations can be effectively implemented and continuously optimized is precisely because the CPC, as a Marxist party and the vanguard of the proletariat, possesses unique values and a sense of mission. On the occasion of the centenary of the CPC, the "System of Intra-Party Regulations of the Communist Party of China" issued by the Regulations Bureau of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee explicitly pointed out that intra-Party regulations must not only "possess strong political attributes" but also "distinct value orientations." This indicates that the construction of intra-Party regulations must not only build a set of instrumental rules for managing and governing the Party but also integrate the Party's system of value norms into them. In practice, this responds to the two realistic issues raised in the report to the 20th National Congress: "persistently using the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to coagulate the soul and build the spirit" and "persisting in the simultaneous application of ideological Party building and institutional Party governance."
Only by clarifying "who we are" can we determine the intrinsic value of institutional construction; only when the Party "is what it is" can it manifest its essence during the governing process and better perform its function as a party of comprehensive leadership. The report to the 20th National Congress noted: "Through unremitting efforts, the Party has found self-revolution as the second answer to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall," [3] and proposed to "improve the system of institutional norms for the Party's self-revolution." These two statements represent the unity of the value and norms of "self-revolution"; they mark the transformation of the mechanism for preventing corruption and degeneration—tested repeatedly through practice—into procedural institutional norms. This helps clarify "who we are" and thus determines the intrinsic value of institutional construction. Politics cannot merely be the extension and application of the will to power; it must rely on specific political values to establish and maintain intersubjective relationships of interaction and mutual construction. In his speech at the ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Communist Party of China has always represented the fundamental interests of the broadest possible range of people; it shares weal and woe with the people and is inextricably linked to them. It has no special interests of its own and never represents the interests of any interest group, power bloc, or privileged stratum." The CPC must never degenerate into a de-valorized structural political existence or a controlling power apparatus, nor into a bureaucratized organization detached from the masses. Therefore, while continuously "filtering impurities, clearing toxins, and excised tumors" [4] to "ensure the health of the Party's organism," we cannot do without the normative protection of the institutional system. To manifest our Party's most distinctive character of self-revolution, we cannot do without the safeguarding of intra-Party regulations.
III. Practice: The Fundamental Drive for the Construction of Intra-Party Regulations
Practice is the activity through which the subjective meets the objective; it is the sole criterion for testing whether theories, policies, and systems are correct. "Discovering truth through practice, and maintaining and developing truth through practice" [5] is both a philosophical summary of the Party's independent exploration of the path of Chinese revolution and the essential process through which the Party promotes the improvement and development of the socialist system based on new situations, problems, and needs. Specifically, institutional construction involves stability within change and progress through change. Intra-Party regulations are "born of the Party, established by the Party, and flourished because of the Party"; they are closely related to the Party's practical activities, exhibiting the characteristic of "practice first, refinement later." Since the 18th National Congress, the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party has provided rich practical experience and a realistic basis for the construction of intra-Party regulations. Consequently, in the texts of intra-Party regulations issued and revised since the New Era, many new phenomena, problems, propositions, and important theoretical achievements have been incorporated, showing a problem-oriented approach and timeliness closely integrated with actual practice.
Since the 18th National Congress, the Party's leadership has been comprehensively strengthened, the Party's core position in the national governance structure has been continuously consolidated, and the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee have been effectively guaranteed. Concurrently, the construction of intra-Party regulations has achieved historical success and undergone historical transformation. The construction of intra-Party regulations and the Party's governance of the country are interconnected and linked, successfully promoting the transformation of the institutional advantages of intra-Party regulations into governance effectiveness. Although the direct targets of intra-Party regulations are often limited to the "intra-Party" scope, the Party's leadership is comprehensive, systematic, and holistic, which determines that intra-Party regulations possess an objective governing "spillover" effect.
In the construction of intra-Party regulations in the New Era, we must not only observe their functional characteristics from the perspective of the Party's subjectivity but also observe their systematic characteristics within the Party's leadership of national governance from a structural perspective. High-level intra-Party regulations, including the Party Constitution, "準則" (zhǔnzé, [Basic] Norms), and "條例" (tiáolì, Regulations), possess fundamental, global, macro, and holistic characteristics. Their issuance and revision serve the key function of adjusting and perfecting the system of Party leadership. Therefore, high-level regulations must prioritize maintaining the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee and focus on integration with the Party's top-level design. Lower-level intra-Party regulations, including "規定" (guīdìng, Provisions), "辦法" (bànfǎ, Measures), "規則" (guīzé, Rules), and "細則" (xìzé, Detailed Rules), provide specific stipulations regarding requirements and procedures for certain important aspects of the CPC's work. These constitute the vast majority of intra-Party regulations in practice and possess strong procedural nature, specificity, and operability. They are institutional essentials for ensuring that the Central Committee's decisions and deployments are implemented and for realizing the transformation from "China's system" to "China's governance." [6] To coordinately construct intra-Party regulations at all levels, it is necessary to fully grasp the functional positioning of each level and promote the construction of a normative system that is logically self-consistent in form and progressively hierarchical in validity based on practice.