SCIO briefing on judicial administration system reform
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 5, 2014
Hu Kaihong:
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this press conference from China's State Council Information Office. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued decisions to make new important deployments for judicial system reform involving reform of judicial administration. As you are paying a lot of attention to this area, today we are delighted to invite Mr. Zhang Sujun, vice minister of justice, to introduce the relevant situation and answer questions from you regarding judicial administration reform . Today we have also invited Director Chen Junsheng of the Legislative Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice. Now let's give the floor to Mr. Zhang.
Zhang Sujun:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, good morning! Welcome to today's press conference. First, on behalf of Ministry of Justice, I would like to show our appreciation to all the friends from the media for your attention and support for the judicial administrative work for many years, and especially for me. Up to this March, I was overseeing legal system publicity work, and many friends from the press have come here today. I thank you for your support for my work and for the legal system publicity work.
The recently concluded fourth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC was very significant conference held at a crucial time when China is to have comprehensively built a well-off society. The session reviewed and passed the Decisions on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing rule of law. It is the very Decisions in our Party's history that are about rule of law for the first time. It is a guideline document to comprehensively advance rule of law in the new era. It completely indicates the resolve and courage of Party's Central Committee with Xi Jinping as core leader to practice the rule of law. The Decisions from the fourth plenary Session are the sister chapter of the Decisions from the third session, portraying a new blueprint of how to make a strategic deployment for comprehensively furthering reform in the rule of law. It makes a new important deployment for justice system reform involving reform of the judicial administration, and put forward new and higher demands. Judicial administration system reform will make a big step and move forward with the goals of speeding up building the socialist justice system with fairness, high-efficiency and authority, as well as improving the level of rule of law in society as a whole.
The Decisions will directly and indirectly impact more than 30 aspects of judicial administration work. The content of the Decisions is very rich.
The judicial administration system is a legal system to provide service and a guarantee for the nation's judicial activities and building the rule of law. It is an important part of China's socialist justice system with Chinese characteristics. Judicial administrative units will carry out functions of law enforcement in prisons, forcible segregation management in drug rehabilitation, community correction, rule of law promotion and education, attorney supervision, notarization, legal aid, people's mediation, judicial examinations, judicial forensics, judicial assistance and foreign affairs. They have a significant position and functions in advancing building of a rule-of-law China, serving the people, maintaining social harmony and stability and securing economic and social development.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Ministry of Justice has thoroughly implemented the CPC Central Committee's policies on the reform of the judicial administration system. We made an active and steady effort in the six reform tasks with which we have been charged and the 33 reform tasks in which we are involved, and we have released 12 documents in this field. The reform has achieved important positive results. We have also facilitated the improvement of the community correction system. Together with the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, we held a national meeting on the community correction system and released the Opinion on Comprehensively Developing Community Correction System to promote appropriate legislation and practice in this area.
Currently, 731,000 people are serving sentences in communities all over China. A total of 2.11 million offenders have been processed through the community correction system since the pilot system was put in place in 2003. During their correction period, less than 0.2 percent of these individuals committed crimes again, which is a rather good result, and all of them enjoyed a normal family life. This is good for keeping social order and has brought about positive legal consequences and social effects.
We have vigorously improved the legal aid system. We facilitated the release of the Opinion of the State Council and CPC Central Military Commission on Strengthening Legal Aid for Servicemen and Their Families, and worked with the Supreme People's Court to release the Opinion on Strengthening the National System of Compensation for Legal Aid Work. We also facilitated the expansion of the scope of legal aid and related services in 23 provinces, lowering the financial needs standards in 19 provinces, and establishing a public legal service system.
We promoted the reform of the lawyer system, strictly implemented regulations on commutation, parole and the temporary serving of sentences outside jail. We enhanced transparency in prison affairs, carried out follow-up work after the abolition of the system of re-education through labor, and promoted the pilot reforms to the systems for selecting, appointing, and managing people's supervisors. The reform of the judicial administration system has proceeded smoothly and achieved notable success.
Currently, all judicial administration organs in China are thoroughly studying the decisions of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. In adherence to the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, we will organize, plan and implement various reform tasks as best as we can, and make our contributions to the comprehensive development of the rule of law and the building of a China governed by the rule of law. We will improve the community correction system, promote the formulation of law in this field, and standardize community correction procedures. We will reform the lawyer system, improve the mechanism for protecting lawyers' rights to practice while punishing illegal practices, strengthen professional ethics, and facilitate the improvement of the system to appoint government lawyers and corporate lawyers. We will improve the legal aid system, promote the formulation of law in this field, and strengthen the formulation of related rules and regulations. We will enhance transparency in prison affairs and promote the system for establishing transparency nationwide on the basis of the results of trial implementation. We will participate in and help other departments to complete reform tasks according to the unified efforts and requirements of the CPC Central Committee, and we will continue to uphold and improve the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.
That ends my brief introduction. Now I'm ready to take your questions. Thank you.
Hu Kaihong:
Thanks Mr. Zhang. The floor is now open. Please indicate which media outlet you are from.
CCTV:
As we know, community correction has been in practice for a long time, although it does not have a sufficient legal basis. The Fourth Plenum explicitly called for a new law on community correction. Would you please describe the current stage of the legislation process? Thank you.
Zhang Sujun:
You have raised a very sharp question, one that is directly concerned with community correction, a new legal system that our country is working to establish. The new legal system is unprecedented in the thousands of years of ancient Chinese history and the six decades since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
It is also an important part of China's legal system reform, and an implementation of the policy on criminal penalties, which requires a combination of severity and mercy. We started piloting the practice in 2003 and expanded the pilot program in 2005. In 2009, we implemented it nationwide. Community correction in China is at a comprehensive advancement stage.
On April 21 this year, President Xi Jinping made important instructions concerning the work of judiciary administration after hearing the work report of the Ministry of Justice. Xi provided an in-depth opinion on the objective, mission and approaches of the work of community correction, among other factors. Xi gave his acknowledgement of the work on community correction, and he indicated the direction for the improvement of the legal practice.
On May 27, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Safety jointly launched a meeting on community correction to deploy work on advancing community correction and improving the system. The meeting amounted to a response to President Xi's requirements.
Then, on Aug. 27, the four national agencies jointly issued the Opinion on Comprehensively Advancing the Work of Community Correction. The document clarified the guiding concepts, basic principles, main tasks and other measures in the promotion of the legal practice.
As I mentioned just now, 731 thousand people in China are currently receiving community correction, while the number of people receiving community correction stayed at 2.113 million. The pilot program has shown satisfactory results, since the re-offence rate was maintained below 0.2 percent. Community correction has made a positive contribution to re-offence prevention and reduction as well as preserving social stability.
But an important penalty execution system calls for a sound legal basis. The eighth edition of the Amendment to Criminal Law, which was enacted in 2011, and the revised Law of Criminal Procedure contain stipulations for community correction, based on the findings of our pilot program. These stipulations amount to preliminary legislation on community correction in China.
In 2012, the same four national agencies drafted the Implementation Measures of Community Correction, which further standardized the implementation of community correction. Based on the central document, local law enforcement departments made their own detailed regulations to specify their workflows. These efforts have helped community correction to develop soundly nationwide, and they also provided a large amount of practice for the legislation on community correction.
The legislation of the law is being advanced in an orderly manner. As I mentioned just now, the conditions have matured over a decade for the legislation of a community correction law. The law has been listed in the five-year legislation plan for the 12th NPC Standing Committee and the State Council's legislation work plan for 2014.
As per the request of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on the judicial reform, the Ministry of Justice, based on extensive research and the conclusions from the experience on the pilot programs, has drafted the preliminary version of the Law of Community Correction. The draft was submitted to the State Council in February of last year for further deliberation.
This March, the Ministry of Justice, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and the CPC Central Committee's Commission for Political and Legal Affairs formed a coordinating team for the legislation of community correction and a special task force for the revision of the legislation draft of community correction, consisting of officials from 12 central departments. In May and June, the coordinating team started researching legislation. Four months later, the team convened for the second time, during which major issues on community correction were deliberated. It is fair to say the legislation is backed by an important consensus.
Currently, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council is revising the draft submitted by the Ministry of Justice. The Decisions adopted by the Fourth Plenum made it clear once again that a law on community correction is necessary. All such efforts are bound to accelerate the legislation process.
The Ministry of Justice will coordinate with other related lawmaking departments to accelerate the legislation of a community correction law that fits China's own conditions, and that will be a legal basis and institutional guarantee for community correction. I thank you, friends from the press, for your concern about the legislation of community correction law. Let's work together for the legislation of the community correction law. Thank you all.
People's Daily:
Minister Zhang, there has been much doubt among the public in recent years concerning the commutation of sentences, parole and temporarily serving sentences outside of prison. Some inmates who formerly held public positions have been released from prison before serving their full jail terms, or they have enjoyed privileges in prison. What measures has the Department of Justice taken in recent years to regulate these practices in order to implement the policies and decisions proposed by the Central Politics and Law Commission of the Communist Party of China?
Zhang Sujun:
Your question reflects the attention the general public pays to the fairness, justice and transparency of the commutation of sentences, parole and temporarily serving sentences out of prison. These three aspects are important parts of the prison and sentencing systems. The task of running the prison system involves a number of aspects, including supervision security, management within the prison, protecting inmates' human rights, supporting prisoners' hygiene, education, reform, psychological treatment and so on. The commutation of sentences, parole and temporarily serving sentences outside of prison are issues which relate to judicial fairness and attract lots of public attention.
Over the past few years, China's prison system has strictly abided by legal regulations and procedures, performed its duties according to law, and earnestly carried out the approval procedures necessary for the commutation of sentences, parole and temporarily serving sentences outside of prison, achieving sound legal and social results. Let me illustrate a bit here. For commutation of sentences and parole, the application is submitted by the prison while the decision is made by the courts. For temporarily serving a sentence outside of prison, the application is submitted by the prison while the authorization is given by prisons at or above the provincial level, according to the Criminal Procedure Law and the Prison Law. Thus, decisions about which inmates are granted the right to temporarily serve sentences outside of prison are made within the prison system, whereas only the initial work regarding the commutation of sentences and parole is undertaken by the prisons, and decisions on these matters are made by the courts. According to the related laws and regulations, these three aspects are monitored in their entirety by the People's Procuratorate. There are around 680 prisons nationwide, each of which has a procuratorate office. Some big prisons even have sub-procuratorates which monitor these systems. Thus the general procedures, both inside and outside the prison, form a complete system.
In recent years, there have indeed been cases in which inmates have been illegally granted the right to commutation of sentences, parole or temporarily serving sentences outside of prison. Though not all of these cases have been attributed to problems in prison enforcement, they do indicate some room for improvement, including in the system and enforcement of discipline.
In response to society's reaction to these cases, the Central Politics and Law Commission of the CPC issued the No.5 document regarding the problems in the commutation of sentences, parole and temporarily serving sentences outside of prison. It requires judicial fairness and strict regulation of all three aspects. The Department of Justice earnestly carries out this decision. It has issued a circular to demand the strict implementation of this decision at the local level. It also reexamined the cases of inmates who had been granted these rights, and especially brought those who were released on bail for medical service to designated hospitals for examination. Those who do not meet the regulations will return to serve their terms in prison.
You can see that we recently issued regulations on applications for the commutation of sentences and parole, which is also an important measure in the implementation of the No. 5 document issued by the Central Politics and Law Commission of the CPC. It clarifies the conditions, standards, and procedures involved in the commutation of sentences and the granting of parole. Meanwhile, we are actively carrying out pilot programs to improve the assessment of applications for the commutation of sentences and parole in order to make our process more scientific and regulated. Through these reforms, we can regulate law enforcement work including the commutation of sentences, parole and temporarily serving sentences outside of prison. Thanks for your attention to this matter, and we welcome the scrutiny of the media.
China Daily:
I have two questions. One is about the legal aid for people with economic difficulties. It is currently difficult for people in need to receive the aid. Therefore, how will the Ministry of Justice implement the Decision made at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee to give legal aid to a wider range of people? Secondly, I want to ask about security issues and management of the prison system, because a recent jailbreak done in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, drew an enormous amount of attention from the media and the public. Will prisons change their management or adopt new measures out of security concerns? Thanks!
Zhang Sujun:
As for the first question, my answer is that legal aid is an important system to provide legal service for people with economic difficulties. It has developed fast in our country, especially since the issuance and implementation of the Legal Aid Regulations in 2003. The ensuing years have witnessed the rapid development of legal aid services, which had benefitted lots of people. The Ministry of Justice has encouraged local governments to design and adjust the range and criteria of the people who have access to legal aid. Now the criteria have expanded from the people with a basic living allowance to those with incomes 1.5 times or 2 times as much as the minimum. The service has reached a new group of people who cannot afford the expenses of lawsuits but enjoyed no legal aid in the past. Besides, a number of supplementary provisions have been added to protect the livelihood rights of needy people. By lowering the criteria and expanding the services, more people now can enjoy legal aid.
In addition, we have cooperated with the public security and prosecutorial organs to enhance institutional construction. A total of 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have formulated relevant laws and regulations locally, and a financial system funded by both the central and local governments has been established to ensure the operation of legal aid. Fiscal investment in legal aid by the central government has grown by 16.6 percent every year on average in the past decade, reaching 1.6 billion yuan (US$261.7 million) in 2003. The infrastructure of community-level legal aid institutes has also been improved a lot as obvious changes can be seen in the environment and conditions. But we also have realized that with social and economic development, our current legal aid's capacity falls behind the growing demands of the people. Therefore, we'll do more to increase this capacity.
First, under our proposal, the State Council and the Central Military Commission of CPC issued an opinion on the improvement of the legal aid for servicemen and their family members in regard of the civil and administrative legal problems. In the meantime, we have encouraged local governments to expand their legal aid services to more low-income people in accordance with the warrant of Legal Aid Regulations, guiding needy people to protect their legal rights using the aid. We are also planning to build a legal aid system with its criteria and beneficiaries updated in accordance with social and economic development, answering the demand of the needy people, gradually involving employment, schooling, healthcare and social security into the system. Meanwhile, we need to adjust our measures systematically, facilitating transfer payments and partner assistance, so that more people in need of legal aid can receive the services.
The second point concerns legal aid in criminal law. Amended criminal law requires wider service regarding the scope and phase of legal aid. To well implement these requirements, work must be done to facilitate legal aid applications and improve the coordination of administration so as to ensure the legal rights of the litigants. What's more, the needy litigants who refuse to obey the verdict and decision made by the judicial administration and appeal to higher court will also access to legal aid in future.
Thirdly, we'll work to expand the coverage of free legal consulting services by building a multiple platform based on existing consulting institutes, a legal service hotline – 12348 – and new media, such as the Internet.
The second question is about prison administration. A recent jailbreak case involving Beijiang Prison in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, attracted nationwide attention. Thanks to the coordinated operation of the local public security and armed police departments, the inmate was quickly recaptured. The central authorities and local governments have attached great importance to prison administration. We have achieved obvious results in this field through several major initiatives. The first is to promote prison system reform. Its key contents include full budgetary allocation; separation of prison operation from enterprises; separation of revenue from expenditure; and better management regulation. These measures provide solid financial guarantees by greatly improving the fund management system of prisons. The second aspect has been to ensure a rational layout and the distribution of prisons throughout the nation. The environment of most prisons has been improved through extensive renovation. Beijiang Prison is an obvious candidate as its facilities are so old that only 500 meters of the 1,700 meters of enclosing walls meet national standards for prison buildings. The third major measure is to promote the informatization of the prison system, especially in regard to prison building and public security work. Many prisons in China have a high level of information management. However, Beijiang Prison happened to be one of those prisons that had not completed its informatization project, in addition to having an unsound management system.
Although the number of prison escapees has been significantly reduced, we still need to raise standards in order to bring the figure down to zero. Prisons represent the front line in the administration of state penalties, as well as a basic element in the state judicial system, an important symbol of state power and a symbol of state compulsory force. Any escape undermines the authority of law, so it is vital we don't allow a single case to occur. Any case must be placed on file for investigation and prosecution. As for the Beijiang Prison case, the leading officials from the Prison Administrative Bureau, together with a special working group, hurried to the scene. They faxed their investigation results to me along with suggestions for appropriate punishment. They uncovered many deficiencies in the prison's management and its facilities and equipment. Some of the issues will be reported to the provincial government, involving prison building, informatization and investment, those aspects I mentioned just now. All these issues need enthusiastic government support. At the same time, we are now fully aware of the shortcomings in prison management, have determined the responsibilities and decided on the measures to be taken. As far as disciplinary measures are concerned, we have dismissed the prison's two leading officials. In the future, we will draw inferences from this case in dealing with any others that might occur and define clearly who shares the responsibilities for maintaining security and stability. Currently, the captured inmate is under interrogation and investigation to determine his criminal responsibility.
The Prison Administrative Bureau of the Ministry of Justice has circulated a notice among those concerned, demanding that all prisons in the country learn the lessons and carry out a new round of security investigations and inspections. The Beijiang Prison incident should not have occurred, but we will not consider or judge anything based on one case. However, we do need to strengthen prison security management further to ensure there will not be a single jailbreak again. This is the general principle we are working to establish. We still have a lot of work to do, but we must strive to achieve it. Only in this way can we provide a safe working and living environment for the people. The Beijiang Prison case is a cause of great regret. We must do our duty and exert every effort to maintain prison and social security and stability. Thank you!
Reuters:
What developments have occurred recently in the investigation of Zhou Yongkang? If Zhou's case is not handled properly, how can we even begin to talk about judicial reform? Thank you.
Zhang Sujun:
I think your question is very specific. The central authorities have decided to investigate Zhou's case and currently the investigation is under way. It will take us some time to complete the investigation because all the steps should be undertaken in accordance with the law. All the media, including you, and all the public, including me, are very concerned with the case. I believe that the result will be published in an appropriate way and through appropriate channels after all the investigation has been completed by relevant departments. In my opinion, the investigation of Zhou Yongkang embodies the spirit of law, which is that all people are equal before the law. No matter who you are, or what position you hold, as long as you break the law or the regulations of the Party, you will be investigated. This case will increase our confidence in the rule by law system. I hope that is a satisfactory answer.
Ta Kung Pao :
Minister Zhang, we have noticed that the Fourth Plenary Session decided to make arrangements for the work of attorneys. How will the Ministry of Justice implement these requirements specifically?.
Zhang Sujun:
You are right. As we just said, more than 30 regulations in the Decision are directly or indirectly involved with judicial administrative work. And attorneys' tasks are mentioned in a significant portion. It is very helpful for us to guide and promote the reform and development of attorneys' work.
China's current lawyers system is developing smoothly. Currently, 260,000 attorneys are practicing the law, and this number is increasing by an average of 20,000 annually. Large-scale law firms, which have nearly a thousand employees, are able to provide comprehensive legal services for cases like overseas listing, large investment cooperation, foreign negotiations and so on. These cases need large-sized law firms to complete the tasks, not small law firms. Several lawyer systems have been formed, including a professional attorney system, part-time attorney system, corporation lawyer system, public office lawyer system, legal-aid lawyer system, and military lawyer system.
In 2013, lawyers served as legal counsels for 450,000 companies nationwide, and they handled more than 2.5 million lawsuits and 810,000 non-litigation matters. They made a large contribution to economic and social development, safeguarding people's rights, promoting social fairness and justice, as well as advancing the nation's legal system.
After the 18th Party Congress, the Ministry of Justice followed the Party's requirements and implemented the lawyer system reform arrangements. We have achieved a lot: establishing advice to strengthen lawyers' professional ethics; establishing basic standards of professional ethics for lawyers; issuing advice to strengthen the education and management of lawyer teams; and amending methods of punishment against lawyers' and law firms' illegal acts and against acts of violation by lawyer association members. We have improved rights protection mechanisms for lawyers. And, we also are working on establishing regulations for lawyers in criminal defense, in order to improve the criminal defense system and protecting judicial human rights.
The Fourth Plenary Session has placed legal service and status of lawyers in a relatively important position, and it regarded the construction of the legal service system as an important component of the construction of a legal system in China, the legal service team as an important component of team building for the rule of law. As I mentioned just now, in the Decision adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session, the part about the function of the Ministry of Justice that was elaborated with the most words. The Decision touches upon various aspects of the reform of the work of lawyers and we have sorted it out in an initial way. First, improving the mechanism for protecting lawyers' rights; second, establishing a system of attorney procuration for appealing cases; third, strictly standardizing the contacts and communication between lawyers and judicial officials; fourth, enhancing the management of law firms and strictly implementing punishment and warning systems; fifth, enhancing the ideological work of lawyer teams, and improving professional ethics and professional quality; sixth, developing the lawyers' services industry, strengthening foreign legal services; seventh, forming reasonable structured complementary legal teams for social attorneys, public attorneys, corporation lawyers and lawyers in other fields, explaining their legal status and straightening out the management system. Also, we will recruit legislation workers, judges and prosecutors from lawyers. We will have lawyers actively participate in legal consultations, ensuring that legal consultation plays a role. We will establish a complete legal service system to integrate legal service resources from urban and rural areas, and to promote the construction of public legal service. It is fair to say the Decision has provided basic and guiding principles for the current work of lawyers and their work in the near future. It has an important and profound significance for the work of lawyers, and the buildup of a legal service team under the new circumstances. To implement all these points, the Ministry of Justice is both internalizing the instructions as stipulated in the Decision, and seizing the moment to provide our own insights on comprehensively advancing reform of the lawyer system in China.
We will specifically arrange necessary trials for the reform options which really need be verified in advance. And then, we will gradually spread them only if the prerequisites have been met. On the purpose of being supported by legislations, we will promote the progress of the amendment of legislations if it is necessary. Indeed, this is the requirement from President Xi as well. In terms of those items for which the prerequisites have already been met, we need to immediately blueprint their practices and make the work specific and measurable. All in all, we are willing to use any necessary means to implement the requirements of the reform and development of the lawyer industry which have been issued by the Fourth Plenary Session, and will constantly improve our lawyer system with characteristics.
China.org.cn:
Some people are saying that the number of administrative and human resources staff in the courts and procuratorate is much higher than the number of personnel handling cases. It has been suggested that the Ministry of Justice set up a special department to take on the support work. Minister Zhang, what's your opinion on this question?
Zhang Sujun:
Your question concerns the relationship between the judicial administration to court and procuratorate. The Decision proposed promoting the separation of the trial and penal systems, and to explore separating the administration of judicial departments from trial and procuratorial work. Both of these concepts are part of the far-reaching significant reform direction proposed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. In response to your question, in fact, the academic field has been researching this for many years and is in the process of putting reforms into practice. Reforms to the staffing of the administrate system of the courts and procuratorates are being carried out in accordance with the relevant stipulations made by the Central Committee. A plan for the division of judicial work related to the reforms devised by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee is currently being formulated The division plan will list specific information about more than 180 specific aspects of the reforms, including which departments will lead the reforms, which departments will participate in the reforms, what the goals of reform are, the contents of the reform, the timeline required and the overall length of the process of reform. After the division is settled, the relevant departments of the ministry will perform their duties and get the reforms done, regardless of whether the Ministry of Justice is required to lead or required to participate, in order to guarantee the implementation of the Plenum's stipulations.
Legal Daily:
The "Decision" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee called for enhancing people's understanding of the concept of rule of law and promoting the development of consciousness about the creation of rule of law throughout society. How is the Ministry of Justice going to implement the Plenum's requirements and carry out education about the rule of law?
Zhang Sujun:
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the promotion of and education about the rule of law, especially as it pertains to enhancing people's awareness of the importance of the rule of law as an basis for the promotion of full governance according to law. We have issued an important treatise on this. We will further study and implement the requirements of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, especially the new requirements on publicity and education about the rule of law. Everyone knows that publicity and education about the rule of law are key to promoting the country's construction of the rule of law, and this is also an approach which features Chinese characteristics. We have organized six consecutive five-year plans for law education and publicity since we launched the publicity campaign for the Ten Laws and One Regulation in 1983. Five of these have been completed and one is still ongoing. We have also held many law-related events to help people increase their knowledge of the legal system and strengthen their legal consciousness.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed high standards for publicity and education about the rule of law. For example, it changed the Chinese term "legal system" to "the rule of law," requiring us to pay attention to the implementation and execution of the law and pay attention to all kinds of legal activities in addition to continuing to strengthen public information and legal education programs that have been going on for decades, steering it towards a focus on cultivating adherence to the spirit of the law and participation in legal events. We will focus on key groups such as officials and students in primary and middle schools. These two aspects are strongly called for in the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. Taking the Oath System in the Constitution as an example, people should be tested on their legal knowledge before taking office, a stipulation that also appears in the Decision. Although we have taken similar actions before, these were limited in scope and scale, whereas now it is an overall requirement.
Additionally, the Decision clearly states that rule of law teaching materials should be used in the elementary and middle school classes and that the concept of rule of law should be included in curriculums. I also noticed that the meeting on education and learning at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee of Ministry of Education focused primarily on this issue. In fact, we have done a great deal of research and conducted a number of surveys since the fifth five-year plan on legal education in 2006, and we found that the teaching burden is very heavy in middle and primary school education. In recent years, related departments and units decreased and cut the required classes, curriculums and course contents required in middle and primary education because the burden at these levels is really heavy. So it is a difficult task, but the Decision clearly required that we add this program. Deng Xiaoping said that publicity about the rule of law should start with children. The cultivation of the spirit of rule of law is developed through concepts like obeying traffic laws and regulations. It has to be cultivated in people when they are children, and the effects may not be as good if they grow up before receiving this kind of education. So I think that bringing this concept into the teaching materials is beneficial to primary and middle school students' formation of an understanding of the rule of law, which is very important. Other education topics can be scaled back, which is an important action. Our ministry has sponsored many activities like legal knowledge contests and mock trials in schools. However, those are only after-school activities with auxiliary materials. Now, the concept of rule of law has to be included in course outlines, classes, and classrooms.
In the meantime, we also have to promote the establishing laws to regulate the case system among judges, prosecutors and administrative staff, and we still have to set up a public dissemination system through the media. In fact, we have many friends from the media here today and you have spent lots of time and writen long stories to promote publicity and education about the rule of law. I said thanks in the beginning of the briefing – you have promoted the development of rule of law publicity and education. This process requires the media to spread legal knowledge and promote responsibility through radio, television, newspapers, periodicals, Internet and mobile phone, in addition to publish projects on legal publicity and education on important pages and during important broadcasting times to spread legal publicity and education throughout our whole society. We will continue to work hard together and do a better job. Thank you!
PLA Daily:
On the issue of legal assistance, you particularly mentioned and even emphasized that we have enacted special policies for legal assistance for servicemen and their family members. I'd like to ask how the policy is being overseen and what effect has it achieved? Thank you.
Zhang Sujun:
Legal assistance for servicemen and their families is an important part of China's legal assistance work. This undertaking directly serves the interests of a great number of military servicemen, and it serves China's national defense and the solidarity of the military. Servicemen are of great significance to our country; they shed sweat and blood for the sake of guarding our country.
Besides its importance in the legal assistance system, protecting the interests of servicemen and their families has implications for China's national defense, social harmony and stability. It helps us meet the objectives of building a mighty military under new circumstances, and enhancing cohesion in the military, improving combat capabilities and reinforcing civil-military unity. I was born and raised in a military compound. I even carry the word "military [jun]" in my name. Therefore, I am personally familiar with the work, and it gives me more motivation, too.
On Sept. 7, the State Council and the Central Military Commission jointly issued an opinion, followed by a memo by the Ministry of Justice, requiring justice and administration agencies and legal assistance providers to closely coordinate with the military to ensure the legal protection of servicemen. Recently, following our discussions with the General Political Department of the PLA, we decided that the following issues will be a focus of our work.
First, we need to draft specific stipulations based on the Opinion. Although the Opinion already amounts to a stipulation with detailed instructions, we still need to create differentiated regulations to standardize the actual implementation of this stipulation. For example, in regard to the issues raised in the Opinion, we have to define the scope of servicemen's families, standardize lawsuit procedures and establish servicemen-oriented legal assistance workstations in addition to specifying various responsibilities and procedures to ensure that the system is able to operate.
Second, we need to secure funding for legal assistance for servicemen and their families. The Ministry of Justice will hold discussions with the General Political Department of the PLA and the Ministry of Finance to draft specific measures to ensure that funding will be made available to provide legal assistance that is oriented toward servicemen.
Third, we need to step up the publicity effort. We and the above-mentioned agencies will make the most of our own advantages in coordinating with mainstream media to inform others about our implementation of this task. Our internal communications will also focus on the implementation of the Opinion. Here, I'd like to invite our friends from the media to keep a close eye on this issue and help us spread the word about our successful experiences.
Fourth, we and the PLA General Political Department will launch a joint review of the implementation of the Opinion in different locations, and local authorities will carry out experience sharing sessions based on the results of this inspection. Outstanding individuals and organizations from both the civil and military services will be recognized and awarded.
To sum up, through these measures, we wish to advance and deepen the work related to providing legal assistance for servicemen and their families. We hope that those from the media present today will also make your own achievements. Thank you all.
Hu Kaihong:
That is the end of today's press conference. Thank you, Minister Zhang, and thank you all.
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