On June 26, 2018, the Fourth Lecture of Innovation Forum of CASS Law Institute and CASS Institute of International Law in 2018 was held in the conference room of the two institutes. The lecture, entitled “Coordinated Advancement of the Strategy of Ruling the Country by Law and Administering Party Affairs in accordance with Party Regulations”, was given by Professor Li Zhong, the Chief Researcher of the Innovation Project “Coordinated Advancement of the Strategy of Ruling the Country by Law and Administering Party Affairs in accordance with Party Regulations”. Professor Mo Jihong, Deputy Director of CASS Law Institute, and Professor Chen Xinxin, a research fellow of the CASS Law Institute, served as the two commentators of the lecture. Over 40 experts, scholars and students from the two institutes attended the forum.

 

In the lecture, Professor Li Zhong first gave an introduction to the historical background and the process of evolution of the strategy of Coordinated Advancement of Ruling the Country by Law and Administering Party Affairs in accordance with Party Regulations. He pointed out that the simultaneous advancement of Party regulations and state laws is an upgrade and transformation of the state governance mode in China, a unique experience of China in the construction of the rule of law, as well as a basic guarantee of the long term stability of the country. The most important characteristic of the political system in China is the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Historical experience shows that the long-term ruling by the CPC is conducive to the orderly and effective advancement of socialist construction. However, it can also lead to such risks and challenges as lack of democracy, difficulty in correcting mistakes in decision-making, over-concentration of power, and corruption. The CPC has a clear and profound understanding of these problems. After the Eighteenth Party Congress, the Party has gradually established a strategy of coordinated advancement of ruling the country by law and administering Party affairs in accordance with Party regulations and put forward the policy of adhering to the organic unity of ruling the country by law and administering Party affairs in accordance with law in the Nineteenth Party Congress.

Professor Li stressed that this strategy is conducive to maintaining the progressiveness and the purity of the Party, to the comprehensive advancement of the rule of law, and to the modernization of the state governance system and capacity. Currently the main problems in the implementation of this strategy include the lack of uniformity in ideological understanding and the lack of clarity in top-level design, defects in the leadership system, the insufficiency of the basis of coordinated planning, the vagueness of the content of planning, the lack of human resources, and the lack of in-depth-theoretical research. He put forward his opinions and suggestion on how to solve these problems.

After the lecture, Professor Mo Jihong made a comment on the lecture. He confirmed the importance of the subject of the lecture, and put forward his own opinions on such issues as the Party’s leadership method and the relationship between the Party’s leadership and the Party policies. Finally, the participants exchanged views with Professor Li Zhong on the openness, the techniques of adoption, and the scope of application of intra-Party regulations, the management of intra-Party documents, and the Party leadership system.