Zhang Wenxian: Deeply Understanding the Innovative Development of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law in Practice
Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law is a scientific theory, a theory of the people, a theory of practice, and an open theory undergoing constant development. Since the 2020 Central Conference on Work Related to Overall Law-based Governance explicitly proposed Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has persisted in the overall law-based governance of the country, continuously advanced the construction of a Law-based China [1], and protected Chinese-path modernization through the rule of law. It has remained courageous in advancing theoretical innovation in integration with new practices, thereby enriching and developing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and opening a new realm for the Sinicization of Marxist legal theory. Over the past five years, the innovative development of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law has been primarily reflected in its profound answers to core, frontier, and fundamental questions regarding the construction and reform of the rule of law, contributing more original Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the development of human legal civilization.
Innovating and Developing the Theory of the Purpose of the Rule of Law Why implement overall law-based governance in the New Era? This is the logical starting point of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important expositions profoundly answering this major question. He pointed out: "Comprehensively advancing the law-based governance of the country is a fundamental requirement for solving a series of major problems facing the development of the Party and the state's undertakings, for liberating and enhancing social vitality, promoting social fairness and justice, maintaining social harmony and stability, and ensuring the long-term peace and stability of the Party and the country." "Overall law-based governance is an essential requirement and an important guarantee for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics." "Overall law-based governance is a profound revolution in national governance." "Comprehensively advancing the law-based governance of the country is a long-term and major historical task," and so forth.
Over the past five years, standing at the strategic height of comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization, General Secretary Xi Jinping has further elaborated on the important status and major role of the rule of law. He noted: "When the rule of law flourishes, the nation flourishes; when the rule of law is strong, the state is strong. Currently, our country is in a critical period for achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The world is undergoing changes unseen in a century [2] at an accelerated pace. The tasks of reform, development, and stability are arduous and heavy, and opening up to the outside world is advancing in depth. This necessitates better utilizing the role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long term." "Grounded in the new stage of development, we must implement the new development philosophy, construct a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development. Meeting the people's increasing demands for democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and the environment—as well as improving the quality of life and promoting common prosperity—all place new and higher requirements on the construction of the rule of law."
On the basis of the continuous advancement and expansion of Chinese-path modernization, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed major propositions such as "the rule of law is an important guarantee for Chinese-path modernization," "comprehensively building a modern socialist country on the track of the rule of law," and "better leveraging the active role of the rule of law in removing obstacles to reform and consolidating the achievements of reform." These grasp the important role of the rule of law from the perspectives of advancing Chinese-path modernization and further comprehensively deepening reform. Standing in the present while looking toward achieving good law and sustainable governance [3] in all fields of national governance, Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law has produced a series of original theoretical achievements regarding the use of rule-of-law thinking and methods to solve deep-seated problems in economic and social development, and to make various systems more mature and stereotyped [4]. Examples include "strengthening the construction of the rule of law in cyberspace" and "strengthening effective supervision of capital according to the law," which have further deepened our Party's understanding of the functions and roles of the rule of law.
Innovating and Developing the Theory of the Path of the Rule of Law The direction determines the future, and the path determines the destiny. The question of direction and path in the construction of the rule of law is a fundamental one. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law posits that the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is the concentrated expression of the achievements and experiences of socialist legal construction, and is the only correct path for building a socialist state under the rule of law. It emphasizes that we will unswervingly follow the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. It clarifies that upholding the Party’s leadership, upholding the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and implementing the theory of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics are, in essence, the core elements of the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. On the question of what kind of path to take, it sends a correct and clear signal to the whole of society.
Over the past five years, General Secretary Xi Jinping has further elaborated on the direction and path of legal construction and reform, pointing out: "The system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics we seek to build must be a legal system rooted in Chinese culture, based on Chinese national conditions, and designed to solve Chinese problems. We cannot be misled by erroneous Western trends of thought." "Reform in the field of the rule of law is highly political and policy-oriented. We must grasp principles and hold the bottom line; we must never turn reform into 'benchmarking' against Western legal systems or 'fawning' over Western legal practices." "On major issues such as upholding the Party's overall leadership and ensuring the people are masters of the country, we must remain exceptionally clear-headed and firm in our stance." In the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To persist in law-based governance of the country, we must first persist in constitution-based governance; to persist in law-based exercise of state power, we must first persist in constitution-based exercise of state power. We must remain unshakable in our commitment to the leadership of the Communist Party of China as established by the Constitution, and remain unshakable in our commitment to the state system of the people's democratic dictatorship and the political system of the People's Congress system as established by the Constitution." The logical alignment of these "two firsts" and "two unshakeables" expresses the historical, logical, and political necessity of following the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics with even greater clarity. The amendments to the Party Constitution adopted at the 20th National Congress wrote the "path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics" into the Party Constitution, firmly establishing the fundamental direction for the construction of a Law-based China at the level of the Party's fundamental law.
Innovating and Developing the Theory of the Legal System Building a system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and building a socialist state under the rule of law was the general goal for comprehensively advancing the law-based governance of the country established by the "Decision" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. Since that session, we have seized upon the construction of the legal system as the "general grasp" [5], driving historical achievements in its development. The people’s sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security regarding the rule of law has continuously increased. At the same time, compared with the people's growing expectations for good law and sustainable governance and the new requirements for building a modern socialist country on the track of the rule of law, some shortcomings and deficiencies remain in the construction of our legal system.
Closely following the pace of the times, responding to the development of practice, and highlighting a problem-oriented approach, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the 35th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee on December 6, 2021, and delivered an important speech. He summarized the historical achievements of the legal system's construction and proposed a series of new concepts, ideas, and strategies, emphasizing: "The system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is an important component of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must firmly grasp its qualitative character as 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' and correctly handle the relationships between politics and law, reform and law, law-based governance and virtue-based governance, and governing the country according to the law and governing the Party according to internal regulations." Under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, the report to the 20th CPC National Congress explicitly proposed the goal of "making the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics more complete." Aiming to coordinate the construction of the system of legal norms, the system of legal implementation, the system of legal supervision, the system of legal guarantees, and the system of intra-Party regulations from a higher starting point and at a higher level, the "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made deployments of key tasks. These include deepening reform in the legislative field, advancing law-based administration, improving the systems and mechanisms for fair law enforcement and justice, perfecting the mechanisms for building a law-based society, and strengthening the construction of the rule of law in foreign-related matters. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has also proposed specific tasks for legal system construction in areas such as foreign-related matters, national security, military affairs with Chinese characteristics, and national supervision, further enriching and developing the scientific connotation and strategic layout of the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.
Innovating and Developing the Theory of Foreign-Related Rule of Law "Foreign-related rule of law" [6] is an original and hallmark concept of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. The theory of foreign-related rule of law is an original theoretical contribution of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law to Marxist legal theory. Since the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has proposed a series of new concepts, ideas, and strategies, such as "building a team of foreign-related legal talents who are well-versed in international legal rules and skilled in handling foreign-related legal affairs" and "promoting the handling of foreign-related economic and social affairs according to the law, and increasing our country's discourse power and influence in international legal affairs." At the Central Conference on Work Related to Overall Law-based Governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Persist in the coordinated advancement of domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law," "accelerate the strategic layout of foreign-related legal work, and coordinately advance domestic and international governance," and "strengthen rule-of-law thinking and utilize rule-of-law methods to effectively respond to challenges and prevent risks." This has effectively guided the construction of socialist rule of law to better adapt to the actual needs of our country’s economic and social development.
Over the past five years, through the practice of coordinately advancing domestic and foreign-related rule of law and improving the level of the rule of law in foreign-related work, the connotation of the concept of "foreign-related rule of law" has been continuously enriched, its extension continuously expanded, and the theory has become more systematic and complete. On November 27, 2023, while presiding over the 10th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly elaborated on the significance and practical requirements of strengthening the construction of the rule of law in foreign-related matters. He pointed out: "Strengthening the construction of foreign-related rule of law is both a long-term necessity for comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization, and an urgent task for promoting high-level opening-up and responding to external risks and challenges." We must "build a foreign-related legal system and capacity compatible with the requirements of high-quality development and high-level opening-up, creating favorable legal conditions and an external environment for the steady and long-term progress of Chinese-path modernization." The "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made important deployments for "strengthening the construction of foreign-related rule of law," including "establishing a working mechanism for the integrated advancement of foreign-related legislation, law enforcement, justice, law observance, legal services, and the cultivation of legal talents." These important expositions and deployments profoundly answer major questions—such as what foreign-related rule of law is, why it must be strengthened, and how to strengthen it—by connecting history and reality, linking the international and domestic, and integrating theory and practice. They provide a powerful ideological weapon for coordinating domestic and international governance, for utilizing legislative, law enforcement, and judicial means to carry out struggles, and for better safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
Innovating and Developing the Theory of the Modernization of the Rule of Law General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "A modern country must be a country under the rule of law." Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law has clarified the goals, tasks, ideas, and measures for overall law-based governance and the construction of a Law-based China. It has guided China’s socialist legal construction through historical changes and achievements, ensuring the rule of law better meets the needs of reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization. In the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly and systematically discussed the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, and major principles of Chinese-path modernization, initially constructing a theoretical system for it. Chinese-path modernization is comprehensive modernization, covering various fields such as economy, politics, culture, society, and ecological civilization; it is an organic unity of many modernization elements. The modernization of the rule of law is an inherent part and an intrinsic requirement of Chinese-path modernization.
Over the past five years, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has positioned, planned, and practiced the rule of law from the overall strategic height of advancing Chinese-path modernization. It has profoundly grasped the intrinsic relationship between the rule of law and Chinese-path modernization, proposing goals and tasks such as "comprehensively promoting the rule of law in all aspects of state work," "striving to build a Law-based China with good law and sustainable governance," and "ensuring the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics becomes more complete and the construction of a socialist state under the rule of law reaches a higher level." This ensures that socialist legal construction better reflects the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, and major principles of Chinese-path modernization, forming a scientific theory to guide the modernization of our country's rule of law. The modernization of the rule of law in our country is a modernization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China that is people-centered; it is a modernization promoted through a two-way interaction from the top down and from the bottom up; it is the modernization of the rule of law in a major power. Our modernization of the rule of law is a part of the global modernization process and shares common characteristics with legal modernization in other countries—such as the implementation of a constitution, the supervision and restraint of public power, the respect for and protection of human rights, and the maintenance of social fairness and justice—but it also possesses Chinese characteristics based on our own national conditions, representing the continuation of Chinese legal civilization.
Innovating and Developing the Theory of Governing the Party According to Internal Regulations
Adhering to the practice of governing the Party in accordance with internal regulations is another original contribution of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. Since the beginning of the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has built upon the concept of "internal Party regulations" (党内法规) to creatively propose that "for our Party to fulfill its major historical mission of governing and rejuvenating the country, to win the great struggle characterized by many new historical features [7], and to achieve long-term peace and stability for the Party and the state, we must persist in the coordinated advancement and integrated construction of the rule of law for the country (依法治国) and the institutional governance of the Party and governing the Party in accordance with internal regulations." He further emphasized "maintaining the unity of governing the Party through regulations and governing the Party through virtue," forming a series of original and landmark achievements. The 19th National Congress of the CPC reviewed and adopted the Amendment to the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, writing the commitment to governing the Party in accordance with internal regulations into the Party Constitution. This established the guiding status of this innovative theory—which applies the rule-of-law mindset and methods to the management and governance of the Party—in the form of the Party’s fundamental law.
Over the past five years, General Secretary Xi Jinping, standing at the strategic height of advancing the Party's self-revolution, has continuously expanded the contemporary connotations of governing the Party through regulations. He has led the innovative development of the theory of governing the Party through regulations with the practice of the Party's self-revolution. He proposed placing the governance of the Party through regulations at a strategic position concerning the Party's long-term governance and the country's long-term peace and stability. He emphasized: persisting in improving the institutional guarantee for the "Two Upholds"; persisting in taking the Party Constitution as the general basis for managing and governing the Party; persisting in implementing democratic centralism; persisting in advancing the construction of the system of internal Party regulations around the overall situation of the work of the Party and the state; persisting in high-quality construction of the system of internal Party regulations; persisting in strict enforcement of regulations and investigating every violation; persisting in ensuring that ideological Party building and institutional Party governance exert force in the same direction; persisting in the organic unity of the rule of law for the country and governing the Party through regulations; and persisting in ensuring that the "key minority" [8] respects, studies, observes, and applies regulations. These "Ten Persists" combine the search for the "second answer" to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall [9] with the concrete practice of governing the Party through regulations. This has deepened our regularized understanding of Party building and the Party’s long-term governance, provided a fundamental follow-up (根本遵循) for advancing the construction of the internal Party regulatory system and deepening the governance of the Party through regulations in the New Era, and enriched and developed Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law at a deeper level and higher standard.
Innovating and Developing the Methodology of Legal Research
To strengthen legal theoretical research in the New Era, we must deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. We must persist in combining the Marxist theory of law with China’s concrete realities and with China’s fine traditional legal culture. We must summarize the laws governing the practice of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and draw upon the beneficial achievements of human civilization in the rule of law. The formation of scientific research methods is an important condition for academic development. China’s legal science must focus closely on the practice of comprehensively governing the country according to law in the New Era. We must summarize and refine concepts, viewpoints, and theories that possess subjectivity, originality, and landmark status within the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. To construct a Chinese independent system of legal knowledge, we must persist in taking the worldview and methodology contained in Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as our fundamental follow-up.
Over the past five years, the worldview and methodology contained in Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law have been continuously enriched and developed. This has effectively promoted the continuous expansion of China’s legal research fields, the sustained improvement of research capabilities, and the further prosperity of both basic theoretical research and applied policy research. This methodological innovation and development is mainly reflected in three aspects: First, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed and profoundly expounded the "Six Must Persists" [10], providing scientific methods for our legal research to understand and grasp the laws of the CPC's governance according to law, the laws of socialist rule of law construction, and the laws of the development of human social civilization under the rule of law. Second, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the "Two Combinations," particularly the "Second Combination" [11], pointing out the scientific path for China's legal research to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s fine traditional legal culture, and to endow Chinese legal civilization with new contemporary connotations. Third, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed methods to strengthen the systematic and theoretical research and interpretation of the Party's innovative theories. This guides us to strengthen research into original concepts, judgments, categories, and theories within Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law—such as "a major power under the rule of law," "confidence in the rule of law," "the pattern of great synergy in foreign-related rule of law work," and the "contemporary Chinese view of human rights." This further improves the quality of research on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and promotes a better demonstration of its profound insight and theoretical creativity.
At present, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century at an accelerated pace. International competition is increasingly manifested as a contest of systems, rules, and laws; the rule of law has become an important component of national core competitiveness. We need, more than ever, to persist in taking Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as a guide to advance the comprehensive rule of law. On the new journey of the New Era, we must keep up with the innovative development of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law by studying it in a timely manner, in connection with reality, and in a comprehensive and integrated way. We must continuously enhance our consciousness of action through theoretical confidence, ensuring that we build a higher-level "Rule-of-Law China" through the full implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and better serve the advancement of Chinese-path modernization.
(The author is a Senior Professor of Philosophy and Social Sciences at Jilin University) Source: People's Daily, July 14, 2025, Page 9 Web Editor: Tongxin