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The third plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress opened on March 5, 2015 in Beijing. [Photo/China.org.cn]

China's legislators have hailed the country's effort in pressing ahead with the rule of law.

"I think that the current administration has made significant achievements in terms of the rule of law," said Su Zelin, a veteran senior judge and deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) during the country's ongoing legislative session.

The annually-held two sessions, or the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), are currently underway in the country's capital. Around 3,000 deputies to the NPC and about 2,100 members of the CPPCC gathered to map out the future legislation work and examine the work of the government of the past year.

During the session, many deputies voiced their appreciation of the country's effort to promote the rule of law, which was put forward as the nation's governing strategy in 1997, and greatly emphasized on the all-important fourth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee held last year.

"My strongest feeling is that this current administration has a genuine desire to promote the construction of a law-based government," said Han Deyun, a deputy to the NPC and the managing partner of the Solton & Partners law firm, in an interview with China.org.cn on March 9.

Han's words have been echoed by many legislators at the session.

"Reforms are authorized by laws"

China is keen on pushing forward reforms to further develop its economic and social system, but some of the intended reform measures have outgrown existing laws, sparking fears for some that the reforms may violate current laws.

"All the reforms have been authorized by the law," said Su Zelin, once the vice president of the Supreme People's Court. "There used to be a saying that 'the rule of law makes way for reform,' which means that laws are not obeyed when they come in conflict with reforms. But this administration put forward law bills to the NPC before implementing reforms measures."

Take the reform in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone for example. Under current Chinese law, foreign enterprises must be granted administrative approval before they can be established in China. But in order to open up the economy further, the Standing Committee of the NPC, the top legislature, gave the green light to the State Council, China's cabinet, in August 2013 to suspend the related laws in the FTZ and give the new measures a three year trial period.

"One feature of a law-based government is that reforms must be carried out according to law," Su said.

A government which "confines its own power according to laws"

China practices an administrative approval system which requires business entities to obtain government approval -- often evidenced in a raft of permits and certificates -- before engaging in business activities. The system has long been blasted as hindering business operation and the country set off to reform it as early as 2001. Significant progress has been achieved in recent years.

In his government work report this year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stated that the current administration has accomplished the goal of cutting the number of items that require government review by one third, and that the review on 246 items have been cancelled or delegated to the lower level by various departments under the State Council in the past year.

"I think the government is trying to confine its own power to the areas that are approved by the law," said Su Zelin.

Other deputies have applauded the newly revised budgetary law that took effect this January. The budgetary law, dubbed the "constitution of the economy," stipulated that the government should fully reveal its budget, as some of the extra-budgetary capital was not made public in the past.

"The new budgetary law requires the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission to do a lot of work (in terms of clarifying the budgetary destination), and the two departments are very cooperative as well," said Zhou Guangquan, a deputy to the NPC and a law professor at Tsinghua University.

The anti-corruption campaign and legislation

China carried out a sweeping anti-corruption campaign since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. He vowed to crack down on both senior and lesser corrupt officials (referred to as "tigers" and "flies").

Statistics show that a total of 27,235 cases involving 35,633 officials were placed on file for corruption and bribery between January and September last year.

Besides the pledge to continue the anti-corruption campaign, China is going to draft national laws to fight against corruption, according to a report delivered by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, during the ongoing meeting.

The anti-corruption law will not be a single law, but a set of laws that deal with the entire process from selecting officials, to confining their power, to punishment, said deputy Zhou Guangquan during an interview on March 9. It demonstrated the country's resolution to fight against corruption, he added.

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