China Focus: China champions rule of law in five-year publicity campaign

China's central authorities have unveiled a five-year campaign to champion rule of law while increasing public legal knowledge.

The five-year plan to publicize law, circulated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council on Sunday, covers 2016 to 2020, when China expects to have achieved its goal of a moderately prosperous society.

It is the seventh plan of this kind. In 1986, China launched the first nationwide law-publicity campaign during an era with a planned economy that lacked basic legal knowledge.

Several campaigns have followed along with the national five-year economic and social development projects as the country gradually turned itself into a market-oriented economy and the people become more aware of the law.

According to the document, one of the top tasks of the campaign is to study and publicize President Xi Jinping's remarks on comprehensively advancing the rule of law.

The campaign shall focus on publicizing the socialistic legal system with Chinese characters and give top priority to the study and publicizing of the Constitution, the Ministry of Justice and the office in charge of the campaign said in a joint statement.

The campaign is a must for pushing rule of law in a comprehensive manner, and it will be carried out in the long run to help establish rule-of-law awareness in the whole society, said the statement.

For Hu Jianmiao, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance, the campaign is a cheering change from previous ones as it stresses the spirits of rule of law rather than the legal knowledge only.

"The fundamental value of rule of law is not the provisions or articles of laws, but the legal spirits behind them -- fairness, justice and independence," said Hu.

Rule of law demonstrates the restriction of public power and protection of people's legitimate rights, which have not been fully understood by many officials, according to Hu.

The campaign will target all Chinese, focusing on leading officials and teenagers, according to the joint statement.

Many officials deem rule of law as merely the formulation of laws and measurement of punishment, therefore the education for officials is very necessary and important, Hu added.

The campaign will also help create a sound legal environment for China's overall economic development in the next five years, the statement said, which is also echoed by Hu.

In a market economy, the spirit of rule of law, such as the spirit of contract and due procedures, require less administrative interference from government and more freedom for market players, thus promoting the long-term, healthy development of the economy, Hu explained. Endi