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Conclusion

China is the largest developing country in the world. It is, and will be, in the primary stage of socialism for a long time to come. China's legal construction is still facing some problems: The development of democracy and the rule of law still falls short of the needs of economic and social development; the legal framework shows certain characteristics of the current stage and calls for further improvement; in some regions and departments, laws are not observed, or strictly enforced, violators are not brought to justice; local protectionism, departmental protectionism and difficulties in law enforcement occur from time to time; some government functionaries take bribes and bend the law, abuse their power when executing the law, abuse their authority to override the law, and substitute their words for the law, thus bringing damage to the socialist rule of law; and the task still remains onerous to strengthen education in the rule of law, and enhance the awareness of law and the concept of the rule of law among the public.

The great practice of socialist legal construction has made the Chinese people realize that the following principles must be observed to carry out the fundamental policy of governing the country by law: adhering to the leadership of the CPC, the people as the masters and ruling the country by law, ensuring that the CPC always plays the role as the core of leadership in directing the overall situation and coordinating the efforts of all quarters in legal construction, ensuring the people's position as masters of the country according to prescriptions of the Constitution and the law, and making sure that all work is carried on according to law; persevering in focusing on both construction and the rule of law, continuously improving the legal system in the light of the objective needs of economic and social development, and making legal construction serve economic and social development as well as the construction of a harmonious society; striving for rooting the legal construction in the reality of Chinese society, drawing on valuable foreign experience for reference while basing our efforts on China's actual conditions without copying indiscriminately other countries' legal systems or political mechanisms; and persisting in basing legal construction on institutional building and enhancing the public's awareness of the rule of law, and unremittingly enhancing the level of legal civilization of the whole society.

In this new century, China will uphold the scientific outlook on development, focus on perfecting legislation, strict enforcement of the law, impartial administration of justice, and conscious observation of the law to implement the fundamental policy of governing the country by law in an all-round way and quicken the tempo of building a socialist country under the rule of law. By strengthening and improving legislation work, we will further improve the quality of legislation to form as soon as possible a more comprehensive socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. By strengthening the implementation of the Constitution and the law, we will safeguard people's legitimate rights and interests and social justice, and defend the uniformity, dignity and authority of the socialist legal system. By enhancing the supervision over law enforcement, we will guarantee the proper operation of power, ensure that power must be linked to responsibility and under supervision, and offenders must be prosecuted. By carrying out intensive publicity of the law and education in the law, we will further enhance the awareness of law and the concept of the rule of law among the public, and develop a social atmosphere of consciously studying, observing and applying the law.

The Chinese people are now going all out to build a well-off society in all aspects. Along with the sound and rapid development of the economy and society, the rights and interests of the Chinese people will certainly enjoy better protection, the construction of a socialist country under the rule of law will certainly witness more fruitful results, and China will surely make more contributions to the development and advancement of human society.

(China.org.cn February 28, 2008)

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