II. Path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics: What is its destination？

We depend on the path for direction and strength. A good path will eventually lead us to a promising and bright future. With regard to the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, the destination is the overall target of the rule of law proposed on the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC, namely building the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and building a country under the socialist rule of law. The rich content of the target could be divided into the following four parts.

—The fundamental requirements for the realization of the overall target are upholding the leadership of the Party, adhering to the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and carrying out the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. These three requirements, which are the basis of the overall target, specify the leadership, the system foundation and the theoretical direction of comprehensively advancing the rule of law.

—The system support for the realization of the overall target is the socialist legal system, which includes complete legal norm system, effective legal enforcement system, strict legal supervision system, and forceful legal guarantee system. Such a “4+1” system covers different aspects and different links of law making and law enforcement, legal operation and safeguard mechanism, rule of law and run the Party with strict discipline.

—The working arrangement for the realization of the overall target relates to two aspects: the joint development of rule by law, governing by law and administration by law, and the integrated construction of law-administrated nation, law-based government and law-abiding society. Comprehensively advancing the rule of law is a huge and systematic project that concerns problems such as national governance, Party's governing and government's administration, and relates to different behavioral agents such as the Party, the nation and the citizens. To carry out this huge project, we must make overall plans by taking all factors into consideration, stress the key points, emphasize on comprehensive and coordinated development, and give full play to the initiative of all parties.

—The striving direction for realizing the overall target is to focus on how to develop the course of legal construction itself and at the same time find out how legal construction will serve for the course of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Legal construction in itself is to realize the target of making laws in a scientific way, enforcing them strictly, administering justice impartially, and ensuring that everyone abides by the law. From the perspective of the general course of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we should promote the modernization of national governance system and governance ability so as to provide a forceful legal guarantee for building of a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform comprehensively and running the Party strictly, and eventually we will be able to run our nation more efficiently.