Today marks the start of the most important meeting of the year for the 205 members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, which will focus on how to rule the country in accordance with law.

Seeking greater social fairness and justice is high on the agenda in China with the committee set to discuss rule of law issues.

Arrangements to promote the rule of law are expected to be unveiled at the fourth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing from today to Thursday.

The expected plan will contribute to laying a powerful legal basis and creating a better environment for the reforms the Party has been pushing.

The key meeting is held at a historic juncture where the Party and the nation are working to deepen reform in fields such as the economy and administration with the goal of building an “all-round well-off society” by 2020. It also takes place at a time when Chinese citizens are expecting more fairness and justice and looking forward to prosperity and long-term stability.

In 1997, the Party decided to make “rule of law” a basic strategy and “building a socialist country under the rule of law” an important goal for socialist modernization.

Significant progress has since been made in the legal sector. In 2010, the country announced it had established a socialist system of laws. Yet the implementation of laws is not ideal and in the minds of some leading grassroots officials, power is above the law. Government intervention in judicial cases still exists in some areas.

Pilot judicial reforms are underway in some cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen to make judges more professional and independent.

The current Party leadership is trying to give a more important role to the market with a series of reforms in a bid to improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth.

The rule of law is vital to the success of reforms in a market-oriented economy. President Xi Jinping said in February that the “rule of law” must be followed and highlighted through the reform process.

The meeting is aiming for a wider consensus on the rule of law and more reforms.

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