Xu Anbiao: The Fundamental Political Institutional Arrangement Integrating the Party's Leadership, the People Being Masters of the Country, and the Law-based Governance of the Country
At the meeting celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National People's Congress (NPC), General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, reviewing the glorious history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) leading the Chinese people in establishing and improving the system of people's congresses. He profoundly expounded upon the significant political advantages of the system of people's congresses, the primary one being that "the system of people's congresses possesses the significant advantage of upholding the leadership of the CPC and ensuring that the Party leads the people in governing the country effectively in accordance with the law. The system of people's congresses upholds the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance." Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to the "Two Combinations" [1], continuously advancing theoretical and practical innovation in the system of people's congresses. It has proposed a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new requirements, forming General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thinking on upholding and improving the system of people's congresses. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The system of people's congresses is the fundamental political institutional arrangement for upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance, ensuring that the Party leads the people in governing the country effectively in accordance with the law." These important discourses profoundly reveal the vital status of the system of people's congresses and clarify the substantive requirements for adhering to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics.
I. Upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance is a profound summary of the laws governing the development of socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics.
Realizing and developing people's democracy is the unswerving pursuit and the banner held high by our Party; it carries the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, for which the Party has conducted arduous exploration, practice, and struggle. Our Party summarized the course of China’s modern political development and the practice of establishing a new type of people's democratic political power to reach an important conclusion: the political power established after the victory of the New Democratic Revolution [2] can only be a people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants; the form of political organization compatible with this state system [3] can only be the system of people's congresses based on democratic centralism. The founding of New China provided the fundamental political prerequisite for the people to be the masters of the country.
In September 1954, the First Session of the First National People's Congress convened and adopted the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, establishing the state system of the people's democratic dictatorship and the corresponding political system [4], marking the formal establishment of the system of people's democracy. In 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee was held, which profoundly summarized both positive and negative experiences and lessons since the founding of New China—especially the painful lessons of the destruction of socialist democracy and the legal system during the "Cultural Revolution." It emphasized developing socialist democracy and improving the socialist legal system, maintaining this as a major policy consistently. This was fully reflected in the current Constitution of 1982. In 1997, the 15th Party Congress took law-based governance as an important component of democratic political construction in the primary stage of socialism, explicitly proposing to "rule the country by law and build a socialist country under the rule of law," and emphasizing that "developing democracy must be closely integrated with improving the legal system and implementing law-based governance." The 1999 Constitutional Amendment inscribed law-based governance into the fundamental law. Meanwhile, the Party continuously deepened and unified its understanding, proposing that the most fundamental aspect of developing socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics is to unify the leadership of the Party, the full exercise of democracy, and strict adherence to the law through scientific institutions and procedures. In 2002, the 16th Party Congress further summarized and elevated this, emphasizing that "to develop socialist democratic politics, the most fundamental thing is to combine the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance in an organic way," and profoundly elaborated on its substantive requirements. This was the first time that upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance was formally proposed in a Party Congress document. In 2007, the 17th Party Congress pointed out that "we must adhere to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, and uphold the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance," and wrote this into the Party Constitution. This organic unity thus became the fundamental requirement for adhering to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics.
Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core—proceeding from the strategic height of upholding and improving the Party's leadership and consolidating the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics—has continuously enriched, developed, and upheld the theory and practice of the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance. This has deepened the understanding of the laws governing the development of democratic politics, ensuring that the country’s political life is both full of vitality and stable and orderly.
In December 2012, in his speech at the meeting commemorating the 30th anniversary of the promulgation and implementation of the current Constitution, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To adhere to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, the key is to uphold the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance." The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee explicitly proposed deepening reform of the political system by focusing closely on this organic unity; the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee took this organic unity as an important component of the overall requirements for comprehensively advancing law-based governance. The 19th Party Congress proposed that upholding this organic unity is an inevitable requirement for socialist political development, and that the system of people's congresses is the fundamental political institutional arrangement for this unity. It scientifically clarified the internal relationship between the three: the leadership of the Party is the fundamental guarantee for the people’s status as masters of the country and law-based governance; the people’s status as masters of the country is the essential characteristic of socialist democratic politics; and law-based governance is the basic way the Party leads the people in governing the country. These three are unified in the great practice of China’s socialist democratic politics. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, from the strategic perspective of modernizing the national governance system and governance capacity, emphasized that the organic unity must be upheld. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee summarized the major achievements and historical experience of the Party's century of struggle, pointing out that to develop socialist democratic politics and socialist political civilization, one must adhere to the organic unity and actively develop whole-process people's democracy. The 20th Party Congress emphasized that we must unswervingly follow the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the organic unity, uphold the principal position of the people, fully reflect the will of the people, protect the rights and interests of the people, and stimulate the creative vitality of the people. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, in its general goal for further comprehensively deepening reform, pointed out that we should focus on developing whole-process people's democracy, uphold the organic unity, promote the further improvement of the systems for the people's status as masters of the country, promote the broad, multi-layered, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, improve the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and reach a higher level in building a socialist country under the rule of law. In September 2024, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the meeting celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National People's Congress, profoundly summarizing the understanding of the laws of socialist democratic political development gained by our Party in the New Era. He proposed "Eight Must-Upholds," including the necessity of upholding the leadership of the CPC, the necessity of upholding the use of a system of institutions to ensure the people’s status as masters of the country, and the necessity of upholding comprehensive law-based governance. These provide the fundamental guidance for promoting the high-quality development of the work of people's congresses in the New Era.
As can be seen, upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance is the result of our Party leading the people in combining the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and with fine traditional Chinese culture. Formed gradually through long-term exploration and implemented unswervingly, it runs through every aspect and the entire process of the development of socialist democratic politics. It completely reflects the core essence of the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics in terms of nature, direction, goals, and guarantees, and constitutes the fundamental requirement of our country's political life.
II. The system of people's congresses provides an effective and reliable institutional vehicle for upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance.
In his important speech at the meeting celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National People's Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly expounded on the five significant political advantages of the system of people's congresses and clearly pointed out the historical, theoretical, institutional, and practical logic of how this system upholds the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance. The system of people's congresses provides an effective and reliable institutional vehicle, implementation platform, and operational track for this organic unity, effectively integrating and connecting the three elements.
The leadership of the Party is the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the greatest advantage of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the fundamental guarantee for the people’s status as masters of the country and law-based governance. Through the system of people's congresses, the Party fully exercises its role as the leadership core that oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties in the political, economic, and social life of the state. It unifies the leading of the people in formulating and implementing the Constitution and laws with the Party’s own adherence to acting within the scope of the Constitution and laws. This ensures that the Party’s propositions become the will of the state through legal procedures, and that candidates recommended by Party organizations become leaders of state organs through legal procedures. The Party exercises leadership over the state and society through the organs of state power, and applies the principle of democratic centralism to safeguard the authority of the Central Committee and the unity of the whole Party and the nation. In the operation of the system of people's congresses, people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees uphold the leadership of the Party, ensuring that the Party’s theories, lines, principles, policies, and decision-making deployments are fully implemented and effectively executed in state work.
The people’s status as masters of the country is the essence and core of socialist democratic politics. All power in the state belongs to the people. Through democratic elections, the people produce deputies to people's congresses at all levels, forming organs of state power to exercise state power. Deputies to the National People's Congress and local people's congresses at all levels are produced through democratic elections, are responsible to the people, and are subject to their supervision. State administrative organs, supervisory organs, judicial organs, and procuratorial organs are all produced by the people's congresses, are responsible to them, and are subject to their supervision. The NPC amends the Constitution, the NPC Standing Committee interprets the Constitution, and the NPC and its Standing Committee supervise the implementation of the Constitution and formulate or amend laws. People's congresses at all levels and their standing committees examine and approve plans and budgets, discuss and decide on major matters within their administrative regions, and supervise the work of "one government, one commission, and two courts" [5]. People's congresses at all levels and their standing committees hold regular meetings to reflect and embody the will and interests of the people and to make resolutions and decisions; this is an important channel and the highest form of realization for the people to be masters of the country. Law-based governance is the basic way the Party leads the people in governing the country. Comprehensive law-based governance is an essential requirement and important guarantee for socialism with Chinese characteristics. Its broadest and deepest foundation is the people. Through the system of people's congresses, laws are formulated and their implementation is ensured, striving to let the people feel fairness and justice in every legal system, every law enforcement decision, and every judicial case.
In the New Era, the system of people's congresses has provided rich practice and demonstrated immense efficacy for upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance. The Constitution is the fundamental law of the state, the general charter for governing the country and ensuring its stability, and the concentrated expression of the will of the Party and the people. Since the adoption of the current Constitution by the NPC in 1982, based on the practice and development of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, the NPC has made important amendments to parts of the Constitution five times—in 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2018—adopting a total of 52 constitutional amendments to ensure that the Constitution advances with the times. All of these were completed under the leadership of the Party Central Committee. The fifth amendment to the current Constitution was a very important revision with the largest number of amendments. The Second Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee conducted a special study on constitutional revision and proposed suggestions for amending parts of the Constitution. The First Session of the 13th NPC adopted the constitutional amendment, which enriched the content concerning upholding and strengthening the overall leadership of the Party. It added "the leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics" into Article 1 of Chapter One (General Principles). By using the form of the state’s fundamental law, this strengthened the consciousness of the Party’s leadership in the political and social life of the state and reflected the common aspirations of all the people. This was a vivid practice of upholding the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people’s status as masters of the country, and law-based governance. To take another example, in the early stages of reform and opening up, the NPC successively formulated the Law on Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law on Foreign-Capital Enterprises, and the Law on Sino-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures. Subsequently, based on the needs of joining the WTO and summarizing the experience of establishing pilot free trade zones, two rounds of important revisions were conducted. In March 2019, forty years after the start of reform and opening up, the Second Session of the 13th NPC adopted the Foreign Investment Law. It established a new legal system for foreign investment management—pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list—elevating the Party Central Committee’s policies on expanding opening up into law. This became a norm to be followed by all, better playing the role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long term.
Implementing the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee and summarizing practical experience, the National People's Congress (NPC) enacted the Supervision Law and amended the Legislation Law, the Organic Law of the NPC, the Rules of Procedure of the NPC, the Organic Law of the State Council, and the Organic Law of Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments. The Standing Committee of the NPC (NPCSC) amended the Electoral Law, the Law on Deputies, the Rules of Procedure of the NPCSC, the Organic Law of the People's Courts, the Organic Law of the People's Prosecutorial Services, the Budget Law, the Audit Law, the Decision on Strengthening the Supervision of Economic Work, and the Decision on Strengthening the Examination and Supervision of the Central Budget. It also passed the Decision on Strengthening the Supervision of the Management of State-owned Assets and the Decision on Improving and Strengthening the Recording and Review System [6]. These efforts have improved the legal systems governing the organization of state organs and the examination and supervision of plans and budgets, strengthened the organizational and working systems of the NPC, further refined the system of people's congresses, and better maintained the organic unity of the Party’s leadership, the people's position as masters of the country, and the law-based governance of the country.
The system of people's congresses ensures that the Party leads the people in governing the country effectively, ensures that all power of the state belongs to the people, ensures the institutionalization and legalization of democracy, and continuously advances the institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of socialist democratic politics.
III. Requirements for Unswervingly Maintaining the Organic Unity of the Party’s Leadership, the People's Position as Masters of the Country, and Law-Based Governance of the Country in the Operation of the System of People's Congresses
Through 70 years of theoretical and practical innovation and development, particularly since the New Era began, the system of people's congresses has become more mature and well-defined. To leverage the advantages and efficacy of this system, we must not only persist in and refine it but, more importantly, ensure its effective operation, transforming institutional advantages into governance strengths and practical results. In developing socialist democratic politics, the key is to give full play to the characteristics and advantages of our country's socialist democratic politics. In October 2021, the Party Central Committee convened the Central Conference on the Work of People's Congresses for the first time. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech, profoundly answering a series of major theoretical and practical questions regarding the development of Chinese socialist democratic politics and the persistence and refinement of the system of people's congresses in the New Era. The 20th Party Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made important deployments for persisting in and refining our country's fundamental political system. In September 2024, at the meeting celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National People's Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered another important speech, systematically summarizing the major achievements of the theoretical and practical innovation of the system of people's congresses in the New Era and making comprehensive deployments for persisting in, refining, and operating the system well at a new historical starting point. We must deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thoughts on persisting in and refining the system of people's congresses and the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee, unswervingly maintaining the organic unity of the Party’s leadership, the people's position as masters of the country, and law-based governance in the performance of NPC duties.
In the operation of the system of people's congresses, we must maintain this organic unity and solidly advance whole-process people's democracy. Whole-process people's democracy is the essential attribute of socialist democracy, and its development is an essential requirement of Chinese-path modernization. The operation of the system of people's congresses encompasses all links—including democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision. It serves as an important institutional carrier for realizing whole-process people's democracy, providing institutionalized, standardized, and proceduralized arrangements for upholding the Party's leadership, adhering to the correct political direction, and deeply practicing whole-process people's democracy. There are more than 2.77 million deputies to people’s congresses at all levels across the country. Each deputy serves as a bond and bridge connecting with the masses. In performing their duties, deputies at all levels do not detach themselves from their work or production; they maintain a natural connection with the masses. Giving full play to their advantages, deputies actively perform their duties through online and offline forms such as visits, symposiums, receptions, and correspondence, conducting in-depth investigations and research, observing social conditions and public opinion, and reflecting the masses' views in a timely manner. Simultaneously, we actively promote the construction of "Deputies' Homes," deputy liaison stations, and grassroots-level legislative contact points [7]. We must build and well-utilize platforms for deputies to contact the masses, enhancing their capacity and convenience in this regard, further enriching the content and form of such contact, and giving full play to the role of deputies. We must improve mechanisms for absorbing public opinion and pooling the wisdom of the people, ensuring that the practice of whole-process people's democracy is implemented in every link and aspect of the system's operation. We must improve the rules of procedure for people's congresses to ensure the full flourishing of democracy, improve the efficiency of deliberations, and guarantee the quality of decision-making. We must also improve systems for demonstration, evaluation, commentary, and hearings, expanding the orderly participation of the masses in the work of the NPC through various means.
The requirements for the organic unity of the Party’s leadership, the people's position as masters of the country, and law-based governance of the country must be implemented in the fulfillment of functions by the NPC and its Standing Committee. Legislation is a vital function of the NPC, its Standing Committee, and local people’s congresses and their standing committees with legislative power. Legislation occupies a unique position in realizing and integrating the three elements of organic unity. Party policies centrally embody the interests and demands of the broadest masses; they are the source and foundation, serving as the important basis for legislation and the vital guide for law enforcement and justice. Through the system of people's congresses and according to legal procedures, the Party’s propositions and the people's will are organically combined, transformed into the state's will, and formed into law. Through law, the effective realization of the Party's policies and propositions is guaranteed, ensuring that the people's will becomes the code of conduct followed by the whole of society, fully embodying and guaranteeing the people's position as masters of the country. Once Party policies become state laws, implementing the law is implementing the Party's will, acting according to the law is executing Party policy, and the people's compliance with the law is the realization of their own will. The rule of law is an important guarantee for Chinese-path modernization, and legislation is the prerequisite and foundation of the rule of law. We must deepen reform in the legislative field, maintain organic unity, and provide a strong rule-of-law guarantee for Chinese-path modernization.
First, we must persist in the Party's leadership over legislative work and implement the Party's propositions. We must persist in studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, ensuring that the Party's propositions become the state's will and are reflected in legal provisions through legal procedures. Legislation must resolutely implement the Party’s theory, line, principles, and policies, the major decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee, and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and comments, while strictly implementing the system of requesting instructions and submitting reports on legislative matters.
Second, we must persist in legislation for the people, truly reflecting the people's position as masters of the country. Working for the people and relying on the people is our Party's governing mission and the source of strength for advancing socialist democratic politics and the comprehensive law-based governance of the country. We must incorporate the embodiment of the people's interests, the reflection of the people's wishes, the protection of the people's rights, and the enhancement of the people's well-being into every aspect and the entire process of legislative work. Legislation must safeguard the people's position as masters and continuously improve the systems for participating in the management of state, economic, cultural, and social affairs. We must accelerate the improvement of legal systems that reflect fairness in rights, opportunities, and rules; safeguard the extensive rights enjoyed by the people; and refine systems for rights protection, realization, and remedy to ensure that all citizen rights are effectively implemented. Legislation must fully reflect and echo the people's will, addressing their urgent concerns and needs. We must focus on livelihoods—attaining sustained progress in areas such as employment, education, medical care, social security, housing, elderly care, food safety, the ecological environment, and public order—to constantly improve the legal systems necessary to satisfy the people’s growing needs for a better life. We must continuously refine democratic legislative procedures and mechanisms, improve mechanisms for expressing and balancing interest demands, and build grassroots-level legislative contact points as "direct trains" for the masses to participate in legislation. We must improve the response system for democratic legislation, utilizing press conferences and briefings to provide timely feedback on the adoption of legislative suggestions and respond to public concerns regarding legislative "hot topics." Faced with the rapid development of modern technology like the Internet, big data, and AI, we must conduct more beneficial explorations, innovate more forms of realization, and broaden the breadth and depth of public participation in legislation.
Third, we must persist in scientific legislation and follow legislative laws. We must ensure the unity and connection between legislative decisions and reform decisions, promptly elevating reform achievements into legal systems to ensure that comprehensive deepening of reform and Chinese-path modernization proceed on a rule-of-law track. We must ensure that reform and the rule of law are unified and that major reforms have a legal basis. We must persist in and refine the legislative work pattern—characterized by "leadership by the Party Committee, leading role of the People's Congress, reliance on the Government, and participation from all sides"—to form a synergy in legislative work. We must coordinate the processes of enactment, amendment, abolition, interpretation, and codification; strengthen legislation in key, emerging, and foreign-related fields; and improve the systems for constitutionality review and recording and review [6] to enhance legislative quality and continuously improve the system of socialist laws with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution at its core. Currently, legislative demand is high, and tasks are heavy. The tighter the schedule and the faster the pace, the more we must emphasize legislative quality and enhance the effectiveness of laws. We must persist in scientific, democratic, and law-based legislation, following legislative laws, respecting natural laws, and reflecting the laws of economic and social development. Regarding specific legislative projects, we should be neither impulsive nor sluggish. Not a single legal procedure or link can be omitted; we cannot rush for results at the expense of quality. Simultaneously, the heavier the task and the higher the requirements, the more we must emphasize legislative efficiency and the timeliness of laws. We must distinguish between the urgent and the less pressing based on reality, allocating resources reasonably so that we "enact the urgently needed first and enact when conditions are ripe," never missing the legislative "window of opportunity" for institutional establishment.
The supervision by the NPC and its Standing Committee over the work of the "One Government, One Commission, and Two Courts" [8] and their supervision to ensure the implementation of the Constitution and laws are important powers granted by the Constitution and laws. The exercise of supervisory power by the NPC and its Standing Committee is an important practice of maintaining organic unity. We must persist in "correct supervision"—upholding the Party's leadership and ensuring the proper orientation of NPC supervision around the central work of the Party and state; persist in "effective supervision"—adhering to a problem-oriented approach and highlighting key areas; and persist in "law-based supervision"—following statutory authority and procedures to promote state organs in fulfilling their duties. In supervision, we must practice the requirements of whole-process people's democracy, extensively listen to the opinions of the masses, and actively respond to their concerns, achieving the goal that "whatever the people call for, I respond to" [9]. We must improve the system of NPC supervision and promote its further depth and substance on a rule-of-law track.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees "should become political organs that consciously uphold the leadership of the CPC, organs of state power that guarantee the people's position as masters of the country, working organs that fully shoulder the various duties entrusted by the Constitution and laws, and representative organs that always maintain close contact with the masses." This points out the goal for the self-improvement of the NPC. Implementing these requirements for building the "Four Organs," we must strengthen the capacity of deputies and Standing Committee members to perform their duties, improve the organizational and working systems of the NPC, and build a high-quality workforce. On the new journey, we will better maintain the organic unity of the Party’s leadership, the people's position as masters of the country, and law-based governance, demonstrating our responsibility and action in the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.
Source: Qiushi (Red Flag Manuscript), October 27, 2024. Web Editor: Jing Mu.