Xinhua News Agency:

To advance high-quality development, we should ensure that state administrative bodies at all levels function in accordance with the law. The MOJ shoulders the responsibility for coordinating the building of a rule of law government. Going forward, what work will be done to advance law-based government administration? Thank you.

Wang Zhenjiang:

Thank you for your question, I will answer this one. Building a law-based government is a key task and major part of comprehensively advancing law-based governance. The third plenary session of the 20th Party Central Committee has made systematic arrangements for deepening law-based government administration. The MOJ has always placed importance on this, and will focus on advancing the work in the following four aspects:

First, we will keep working to establish a sound legal footing for government institutions, functions, powers, procedures and responsibilities. To advance law-based government administration, we must set rules and draw boundaries for administrative powers with the rule of law. We will speed up advancing legislative items such as regulations on the supervision of administrative law enforcement and regulations on the procedures of formulating administrative normative documents, with the aim to further improve government behaviors through the rule of law. At the same time, we will strictly implement the interim regulations on major administrative decision-making procedures and improve the legality review mechanism for major decisions and normative documents, so as to enhance the binding force of legality reviews.

Second, we will strengthen reviews of the legislative work of the government. The third plenary session of the 20th Party Central Committee has for the first time made a proposal regarding this. As the legal affairs organ of the State Council, the MOJ will further improve the system and mechanism and develop new ways and means for reviews of government legislation, enhancing the quality and efficiency of such reviews across the board to continuously improve those of legislation. In this work, we specifically should adapt to new situations, new requirements and new tasks, take a problem-oriented approach, and work to make the system and measures more targeted, effective and practicable.

Third, we will strengthen administrative law enforcement coordination and supervision. Administrative law enforcement connects government and people, and directly affects people's trust in the Party and government and their confidence in the rule of law. This year, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued opinions on strengthening the development of working systems for administrative law enforcement coordination and supervision. In accordance with the arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the MOJ will basically establish a working system for the supervision of administrative law enforcement covering the provincial, municipal, county and township levels by the end of this year. At the same time, we will improve the supervision system, adopt new oversight methods, strengthen comprehensive coordination, and accelerate steps to achieve all-round, full-process and long-term supervision of administrative law enforcement on a regular basis. 

Fourth, we will improve the institutions and mechanisms for administrative review. We have attached great importance to giving play to the institutional strengths of administrative review as it is impartial, efficient and convenient and works in the interest of the people and giving play to its role as a major channel for resolving administrative disputes. In particular, we strengthened administrative reviews regarding business entities. Last year, administrative review agencies at various levels nationwide accepted 385,000 cases, up 42.7% year on year. Among these, 352,000 cases were concluded. The number of administrative review cases has exceeded that of administrative litigation cases for the first time. The cases handled included 17,000 cases relating to land management, 2,899 cases relating to intellectual property rights, and 2,764 cases relating to ecology and environment. A total of 39,800 administrative review cases filed by business entities were handled in 2023, helping recover economic losses amounting to 10.39 billion yuan, playing a crucial role in supporting high-quality development. Thank you.