Chinese Communist Party Cements Xi Jinping's 'Rule of Law' Concept; Chinese 'Duowei News': 'Which Is Bigger, The Party Or The Law?' Is Actually A Pseudo Question

The Chinese Communist Party is still debating whether the Party is supreme over the law or vice-versa. The Party's authoritative People's Daily addressed the issue on December 30, 2020, concluding with CCP Xi Jinping's "Rule of Law" policy which posits that the Party must rule unchallenged under laws that the Party sets in accordance with the 1982 constitution. The Party has been discussing the question for decades and CCP cadre remains divided and confused about whether the Party or the law is supreme.

Explaining Xi Jinping's definitive answer to the question appears to be the reason for Duowei's lengthy essay,[1] which traces the historical development of the question within the Party. There is a practical logic to the question Duowei says, because certain Party officials abuse their power without respect for authority and procedure and thus undermine public confidence in both Party and law.

However, Duowei adds, "the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' is actually a pseudo proposition. Logically speaking, the essence of the Party is a political organization, while the essence of law is about rules of conduct. There is no such question as which one is bigger than the other, otherwise we will fall into the trap of discourse. If the Party is bigger than the law, we must admit that the rule of law and the law-based governance of the country are false, and then the law has no basis for existence. If we say that the law is bigger than the party, then it seems that the leadership of the party has gone wrong again and is difficult to implement. Therefore, no simple comparison can be made between the Party and the law."

Below is Duowei's article:[2]

(Source: Dwnews.com)

The CCP's People's Daily Publishes Xi Jinping's Definitive Settlement Of The Rule Of Law Question

"On December 30, [2020,] the People's Daily, newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party of China, published a long article titled 'Xi Jinping's Thought on the Rule of Law is the Latest Achievement in Adapting Marxism to the Chinese Context.' 'We must resolutely discard the false proposition of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' and promote the implementation of Party's leadership in the whole process and all aspects of comprehensively governing the country in accordance with the law,' it said.

"There has been a lot of discussion on the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' This question first appeared in the early days of China's reform and opening up.

"After the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, the Chinese Communist Party set out to correct the 'lawlessness' brought about by the Cultural Revolution, so to speak, rebuilding the legal system from the ruins. China's Constitution, formulated in 1982, stipulates that 'The people of all nationalities, all state organs, the armed forces, all political parties and public organizations and all enterprises and institutions in the country must take the Constitution as the basic standard of conduct, and they have the duty to uphold the dignity of the Constitution and ensure its implementation.' The Chinese Communist Party's Constitution, adopted the same year, also stated that 'The Party must act within the scope of the country's Constitution and the law.' After the country's constitution and the constitution of the Party stipulated the relationship between the Party and the law, relevant disputes also followed.

After 37 Years, The CCP Debate About 'Which Is Bigger, The Party Or The Law?' Is Now Over

"In 1983, the People's Daily first asked the question, 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' At the time, Gong Yuzhi, a prominent theorist of the Chinese Communist Party, wrote in a long essay entitled 'On the Guarantee of the Implementation of the Constitution' published in the People's Daily: 'There have been many confused views on the relationship between the Party and the law that need to be clarified. 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' The new constitution of the nation and the new Party's constitution definitively answer this question: The Party must abide by the law, and it has no prerogative over the country's Constitution and the law.'

"Later, the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' also caught the attention of Deng Liqun, the flagman of the left wing of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1985, Deng Liqun, then head of the Central Propaganda Department, said at a national conference on legal publicity and education: 'Acting in accordance with the law is consistent with the leadership of the Party, and it is wrong to oppose the two. As for such questions that are also drawn from here, such as 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' they are all metaphysical points of view.' 'Law is the unity of the will of the people and the will of the Party,' Deng Liqun said. 'If the Party does not act in accordance with the country's Constitution and the law, it is tantamount to violating its own will and actually undermining the Party's leadership role in state affairs.'

"In 1986, during the two sessions of China's National People's Congress (CNPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Zhou Gucheng, then vice chairman of the National People's Congress, said in an exclusive interview with China's official Xinhua news agency that it was actually a muddled idea to ask whether the Party was big or whether the law was big. 'The Party exercises overall leadership over everything, the Party leads us in making laws, the Party leads us in upholding the dignity of the law and ensuring its enforcement. Isn't the Party big enough? However, the Party operates under the constraint of the law, so the law is above everything else. There is no contradiction between the two.'

"In 1997, the rule of law was written into the report of the 15th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1998, the People's Daily ran an article that said, 'The Party's leadership and the rule of law are the same values and objectives, and there is no question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?''

"Although the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper stressed that there was no question of whether the Party was bigger or the law was bigger, there was controversy over the issue. In 2006, In 2006, when introducing Li Peng's diary entitled Legislation and Supervision during his tenure at the National People's Congress, the People's Daily rarely disclosed that after a lecture on legal system by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 1998, Li Peng, then chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, once said: 'A comprehensive and correct answer must be given to the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?''

Under Xi Jinping, The Party Finally Settles The Question

"According to the reports in the People's Daily, more than a decade later, there is finally a 'comprehensive and correct answer' to this question.

"In October 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CCP Central Committee was held, focusing on the rule of law. Before the session, the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' had been warmed up. The communiqué of the Fourth Plenary Session put forward: 'The Party's leadership is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the most fundamental guarantee for socialist rule of law in China. The need to exercise the Party's leadership throughout the whole process and in every aspect of the law-based governance of the country is a basic lesson we have learned in developing socialist rule of law in China.'

"One week after the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CCP Central Committee, the People's Daily published an article entitled 'Why Strictly Governing the Party?' saying that some people deliberately put the Party and the law in opposition, claiming that 'the Party and the law cannot stand together' and asking the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' This is a pseudo proposition by people with ulterior motives. Its purpose is to attempt to make a breach through the issue of 'rule of law,' to confuse the masses, to befog people's mind, to negate the leadership of the Party and the socialist system, and to lead China to an erroneous path. This is the first time that the People's Daily has put forward the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' as a pseudo proposition.

"The author of this article is Ye Xiaowen, a member of the 18th CCP Central Committee and the Party Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Institute of Socialism, who supposedly attended the Fourth Plenum. From the article he wrote in the Party's newspaper on 'Party vs. Law,' it is not difficult to see that the Fourth Plenary Session may have discussed this topic and reached consensus.

Duowei Boils Down The Original Points Of Xi Jinping's Authoritative Answer

"In February 2015, provincial and ministerial-level officials gathered at the Party School of the CCP Central Committee to study the communiqué of the Fourth Plenary Session and other documents. In his speech, Xi Jinping, leader of the CCP, pointed out that the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' is a political trap and a pseudo proposition. Subsequently, the People's Daily published a long article explaining why the question itself is a pseudo proposition.

"The article, entitled The Core Issues of the Rise and Fall of the Rule of Law — How to Understand the Relationship between the Party and the Rule of Law, is a long one. To make it easier to understand, here are some key paragraphs:

"'It should be noted that the reason why some people raise the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' is because it reflects some real phenomena. In social life, some Party members and officials, especially leading officials, do not have a strong sense of the rule of law, do not follow procedures in making decisions, do not act in accordance with laws and regulations, and even use their words to override the law, use their power to override the law, and bend the law for self-seeking.

"'The existence of these phenomena seriously affects the people's confidence in the rule of law, and makes people feel that 'power is greater than law' and 'the Party is greater than law.'

"'But if we take a deeper look, the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' is actually a pseudo proposition. Logically speaking, the essence of the Party is a political organization, while the essence of law is about rules of conduct. There is no such question as which one is bigger than the other, otherwise we will fall into the trap of discourse. If the Party is bigger than the law, we must admit that the rule of law and the law-based governance of the country are false, and then the law has no basis for existence. If we say that the law is bigger than the party, then it seems that the leadership of the party has gone wrong again and is difficult to implement. Therefore, no simple comparison can be made between the Party and the law. However, in reality, why do some people always pick on the issue of 'Party vs. Law,' and stick to the question of 'Which is bigger, the Party or the Law?' In its essence, this is the work of some people with ulterior motives, they always entangle this question, the reason is not really to promote the construction of rule of law in China, but to deliberately set the Party and the rule of law against each other, to promote that 'the Party and the law cannot stand side by side.' Its purpose is to attempt to make a breach through the issue of 'rule of law,' to befog people's mind, to negate the leadership of the Party and the socialist system. We must be sober-minded about this.' (People's Daily, the newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, published on February 4, 2015)"