People's Daily:
The central conference on work related to overall law-based governance, which was held recently, established Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as the guideline for overall law-based governance. How should we combine the study, publicity and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law with law popularization to further promote the thought?
Tang Yijun:
Thanks for your question. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law serves as the fundamental guideline for overall law-based governance in China and our efforts to popularize public knowledge of the law. To study and publicize Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law is our top priority in public legal education in the new era. As the period covered by the seventh five-year plan for increasing public knowledge of the law is drawing to a close and the planning of the eighth edition is underway, we will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and uphold Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as the overarching principle for law popularization in the new era. We will combine the study, publicity and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law with law popularization to ensure it is fully embraced by the people. We will focus on the following three aspects.
First, we will attach great importance to the education of key targets. Leading officials have always been the key targets in law popularization. In the campaign to study, publicize and implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, we should first of all focus on the "key few" and see that leading officials take the lead in studying and accurately grasping its gist, and resolutely implement the major decisions and plans on overall law-based governance adopted by the CPC Central Committee. We will ensure the full implementation of the system in which state functionaries study and use the law. We will ensure that Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law becomes a focus for theory study groups of the Party Committees (leading Party members groups) at all levels, a key course at Party schools (administration institutes) and cadre colleges, and an essential part in leading officials' daily study, legal training, and annual assessment in order to continuously deepen their understanding, enhance their awareness of the rule of law and lay a solid theoretical foundation. We will encourage leading officials at various levels to assume responsibility in respecting, studying, observing and applying the law, and boost their capacity of adopting law-based thinking and approach in their job.
Youth has also been the key target in law popularization. Through implementing the Guidelines on Rule of Law Education for the Youth, we should integrate Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law into school education, and make it part of the legal theory syllabus at universities. We should see that it is included in teaching materials, taught at class and embraced by students. Today, the country has established over 30,000 bases of legal education for youth, in which we will set up themed areas and pavilions for publicizing and studying Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law to guide the young generation to resolutely forge ahead on the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.
Second, we will make better use of the publicity platforms to improve the work. We have established the national "Smart Law Popularization" platform, pooling the resources of over 6,000 new media outlets across the country to form a new media matrix. The WeChat public account "China Law Popularization" has attracted over 15 million followers. As of today, more than 3,500 theme parks, 12,000 squares and 34,000 corridors have been set up throughout the country. A total of 95.7% of villages (communities) have established platforms for law popularization. The country has established 72 national bases for law popularization and education. We will make full use of those platforms to expound Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law in a people-friendly fashion, through various integrated media means and channels, and using plain language. In this way, we will see that officials and the general public have a better understanding of the essence and the basic content and requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and ensure this reaches a wider audience.
Third, we will match our actions to our words to ensure good implementation. The key to studying and publicizing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law is to match our actions to our words, and apply what one has learnt. It is necessary to transform scientific thinking into motivation for practice. We will implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law throughout the process of popularizing public knowledge of the law in the new era, and fully embody it in the eighth five-year plan on enhancing public awareness of the Constitution and the rule of law. We will also fulfill our duty in raising public awareness of the law and cultivate belief in the rule of law throughout society, so as to make the rule of law a consensus and basic norm of society. The basic spirit and essentials of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law are mainly reflected in the 11 requirements put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the central conference on work related to overall law-based governance, as well as his remarks on political direction, important status, work arrangements, key tasks, major relations, and important guarantees of overall law-based governance. To implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law in the popularization work requires strengthening the CPC's overall leadership in the work to ensure its right direction, and emphasizing a people-oriented philosophy, so that the public feel the need for its content and praise for the approaches and outcomes. It requires more efforts to popularize the spirit of the Constitution and guiding the whole society to respect, study, abide by, safeguard and use the Constitution. It also requires emphasizing law-based governance to create a good legal environment for handling affairs according to the laws, seeking legal assistance when in trouble, and solving problems and resolving conflicts with the laws. It also requires implementing the responsibility program in which state law enforcement departments are responsible for strengthening public legal awareness, so that the popularization work can be effectively combined with science-based legislation, strict law enforcement and fair justice. It also requires publicizing our law-based governance to the outside world to establish the image of our country as one based on the rule of law. We should also place more emphasis on the "key few," by which we mean leading officials, and motivate officials to be role models in regard to respecting, studying, abiding by, and using the laws. Thank you.
