Actively Adapt to New Changes in the Situation and Adhere to Taking the Rule of Law as Our Guide 

Effectively Improve the Ability and Level of Political and Legal Affairs Institutions to Serve the Overall Situation 

Meng Jianzhu, Member of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Party Central Committee 

The Central Political and Legal Affairs Work Conference is an important meeting approved by the Party Central Committee. Its main tasks are to: Deeply study and implement the spirit of the Eighteenth Party Congress, the 3rd and 4th Plenum of the Eighteenth Central Committee, and the Central Economic Work Conference, further the study and implementation of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches, summarize the work, analyze the situation, and study and deploy political and legal affairs work for the current year. On January 18, General Secretary Xi Jinping gave important instructions on political and legal affairs work: “In 2014, the political and legal affairs fronts conscientiously implemented the Party Central Committee’s decisions and deployments, further promoted the construction of a peaceful China, a China under the rule of law, and strong teams. Various tasks, especially reforms, achieved new results. Under the new situation, the tasks of political and legal affairs institutions are heavier and the demands of the people are even higher. We hope that national political and legal affairs institutions will take the initiative to adapt to the new situation, enhance the forward-looking nature of their work, effectively prevent and control various risks, and fulfill their major responsibilities for maintaining national security and social stability. We must continue to deepen the reform of the judicial system to provide strong institutional assurances for strict law enforcement, civilized law enforcement, an impartial judiciary, and the increase of law enforcement and judicial credibility. We must insist on strict police governance, strictly observe the Party’s political and organizational discipline, resolutely oppose the private use of public equipment and judicial corruption, strive to maintain the overall stability of society, promote social fairness and justice, and ensure that the people live and work in peace and contentment. Party committees at all levels must earnestly shoulder the political responsibility of maintaining the stability of one party (一方稳定), put political and legal affairs work in the context of overall economic and social development for planning, and actively study and resolve major issues affecting political and legal affairs work. We must take the lead in handling matters according to the law, support the people’s courts and people’s procuratorates in their independent and impartial exercise of their judicial and procuratorial powers in accordance with the law, support political and legal affairs units in the performance of their work independently and in a coordinated manner in accordance with the Constitution and law, and create a good environment for political and legal affairs institutions to perform their duties in accordance with the law. We must strengthen and improve the leadership of political and legal affairs work, choose strong leadership teams for political and legal affairs institutions, continuously improve the ideological and political quality and performance capabilities of political and legal affairs teams, cultivate political and legal affairs teams that are loyal to the Party, loyal to the country, loyal to the people, and loyal to the law, and ensure that the knife is firmly in the hands of the Party and the people.” The important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping further pointed out the correct direction for strengthening political and legal affairs work. We must study hard and gain a thorough understanding, use General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions to unify our thinking and guide our work, effectively prevent and control various risks, fulfill the major responsibilities of maintaining national security and social stability, and improve our ability and level of serving the overall situation. 

Since the Eighteenth Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its General Secretary has overseen the overall situation and formulated strategies, made strategic deployments for building a well-off society in an all-round way, deepening reforms in an all-round way, the comprehensive rule of law, and the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and created a new situation for the development of the Party and the country. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to political and legal affairs work. He has given many important instructions with profound and far-reaching influence, especially the important speech delivered at the Central Political and Legal Affairs Work Conference last year, has systematically and thoroughly explicated a series of directional and fundamental major issues in political and legal affairs work under the new situation, and has provided important guidelines for us to follow in order to do a good job. Over the past year, national political and legal affairs institutions earnestly implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, used the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches to arm the minds of cadres and police officers and direct political and legal affairs work, worked hard to perform their duties, made every effort to promote the construction of a peaceful China, a China under the rule of law, and strong teams, and made new contributions to maintaining the overall stability of society, promoting social fairness and justice, and ensuring that the people live and work in peace and contentment. First, we insisted on putting the deepening of judicial system reforms in a prominent position, organized 18 cities to carry out pilot programs of expedited procedures for criminal cases, comprehensively promote the reform of law-related petitions and community corrections, and deepened the openness of trials, prosecution, police affairs, and prison affairs to the public. We issued The Framework Opinion on Several Issues Relating to Judicial System Reform and organized seven provinces and cities to initiate four reform pilot projects including perfecting the judicial accountability system. We explored the establishment of intellectual property courts, supreme people’s court circuit courts, and people’s courts and people’s procuratorates operating across administrative jurisdictions. These efforts have won the praise of people from all walks of life. Second, we upheld strict law enforcement and impartial justice, further promoted the standardized construction of law enforcement and justice, completed and perfected systems for preventing, correcting, and holding relevant parties accountable for wrongful cases, corrected a batch of unjust, false, and erroneous cases in accordance with the law, strictly regulated commutation, parole, and temporary serving of sentences outside of prison, cleared up cases of prolonged detention without conviction in accordance with the law, and improved the handling and response mechanisms for major sensitive cases. These efforts improved the credibility of law enforcement and the judiciary. Third, we adhered to the guidance of public opinion and the combination of offense and defense, deepened special initiatives such as cracking down on organized crime, combating firearms and explosives, prohibiting drugs and pornography, and combating financial fraud and telecommunications fraud, dealt with major cases of underworld organizations, such as the cases of Liu Han and Liu Wei, in accordance with the law, innovated a three-dimensional public security prevention and control system, and used all our efforts to ensure the security of major events such as the  CICA Shanghai Summit, Nanjing Summer Youth Olympics, and Beijing APEC meetings. Throughout the year, the number of registered cases of eight types of serious violent crimes, including homicide, bombings, and robbery, decreased by 16% year-on-year, and the people’s sense of security and satisfaction further improved. Fourth, we persisted in moving the goalposts forward and implementing governance at the source, deepened the investigation and resolution of social contradictions, and actively promoted the reform of the petition work system. Fifth, we persisted in taking the initiative and striking with heavy blows, investigated and dealt with cases of crimes involving official duties such as corruption, bribery, and abuse of power in accordance with the law, organized and carried out special initiatives for the overseas recovery of stolen goods and escaped fugitives, and promoted the construction of Party style and clean government and the fight against corruption. Sixth, we upheld the team-building as the foundation, carried out in-depth special education activities on “enhancing Party spirit, strictly observing discipline, and conducting clean governance”, investigated and dealt with a number of cases of cadres and police officers who violated law and discipline, and improved the overall image and combat effectiveness of political and legal affairs teams. These achievements are the result of the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the result of the strong support of the broad masses of the people, and the result of the united efforts of more than 3 million political and legal affairs cadres and police officers across the country. 

I. Correctly understand and grasp the new changes in the situation and do a good job in political and legal affairs work in keeping with the times

Scientifically understanding the current situation and accurately studying and judging future trends are the basic prerequisites for doing a good job in political and legal affairs work. 

In view of the new characteristics of the international situation, various factors such as global politics, economics, and geography are intertwined. China’s participation in international affairs has continued to deepen, and the world’s influence on China is also increasing. We must pay close attention to the development and changes in the international situation, be adept at discovering potential risks in interconnections, be adept at gaining insight into hidden dangers from problematic signs and tendencies, and continuously enhance the predictability of work. 

In view of the new normal of economic development, the Chinese economy is shifting from high-speed growth to moderately-high-speed growth and development has moved from the lower-end level to the higher-end level. This is conducive to alleviating the contradictions and problems accumulated during high-speed growth, but it will also bring new contradictions and problems. We must be adept at grasping the trends and characteristics produced and developed by various contradictions and problems, establish innovative work ideas and methods, and effectively respond to risks and challenges in the field of social stability. 

In view of the new trends in social development, along with the development of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, profound adjustments in interests and relations, increased social openness and mobility, and the rapid development of social self-organization have brought new issues to social governance. We must not only be able to make good use of the convenience brought about by these new changes, but also closely track the new problems that they give rise to and manage the various risks. 

In view of the new requirements for governing the country by law, the Fourth Plenum of the Eighteenth Central Committee outlined a grand blueprint for comprehensively advancing the governance of the country by law. It proposed that equality is the basic attribute of socialist law, justice is the lifeline of the rule of law, and the rule of law focuses on regulating and restricting power, among other new viewpoints and requirements. We must internalize the ideas of governing power according to law and eliminating privileges and practice them externally so as to maintain social fairness and justice. 

In view of the new expectations of the people, building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation presents a bright future and the people have higher expectations for a better life. The people’s yearning for security and justice is the goal of our struggle. We must insist on safeguarding the fundamental interests of the people as the starting point and ending point of our political and legal affairs work, be adept at drawing wisdom from the people, find ways to solve problems, and deeply root political and legal affairs work among the people. 

In view of the new situation of political and legal affairs teams, there are many young cadres and police officers with high levels of education, broad outlooks, and active thinking. We must grasp the new situation and changes of teams, both impose strict requirements and offer friendly care, maximize the enthusiasm of the cadres and police officers to perform their duties, and stimulate the vitality of the teams. 

These new changes reflect the trends and characteristics of political and legal affairs work in the new period. We must pay attention to research and mastery, promote corresponding changes in work concepts, mechanisms, and methods, and enhance the foresight and initiative in our work. First, promote the transition to being adept at using rule of law thinking and methods. We must give full play to our political advantages and continue to adhere to successful experience such as combining professionals and the masses. At the same time, we must be adept at using rule of law thinking and methods to consider problems and promote the work. The reform of the judicial system must respect judicial law and increase its scientific nature. To maintain social stability, we must use legal facts to distinguish right from wrong, use rights and obligations to judge right and wrong, and prevent and resolve social contradictions on the track of the rule of law. Law enforcement and judicial work should better satisfy the requirements of constraining public power and protecting human rights and realize the unification of legal and social effects. Team-building should pay more attention to the use of institutions to manage personnel, matters, and powers and improve the level of scientification and institutionalization. Second, promote the transition to both order and vitality. The maintenance of social stability cannot rely solely on suppression, management, and control. Instead, we must attach importance to persuasion and resolution and effectively treat both symptoms and root causes with both strictness and softness. We must pay more attention to the integration of stability maintenance and rights protection and address the legitimate and reasonable interests and demands of the people. We must pay more attention to the use of legal means to regulate social relations and provide equal protection to the legitimate rights and interests of various market entities. We must pay more attention to comprehensive policies, be adept at using legal norms, psychological guidance, and public opinion guidance, and promote social harmony and stability. We must pay more attention to the participation of all parties in society under the leadership of Party committees and the government and form a system of social governance led by the Party and government and with the participation of the society in governance. Third, We must promote a shift of focus to the solving of deep-seated problems. Many of the contradictions and problems we currently face are hard nuts to crack and need to be resolved through reform and innovation. We must pay more attention to discovering general and trending problems in front-end governance from within the end-stage of handling issues, promote the improvement of relevant institutions and systems. and prevent and reduce the occurrence of problems that affect social harmony and stability at the source. We must pay more attention to the construction and innovation of basic institutions, consolidate the foundation of political and legal affairs work, and improve capabilities for the prevention and control of various risks. Fourth, promote the transition to being adept at using informatization techniques. Under the conditions of social informatization, the people’s ways of thinking and behavior have undergone profound changes. We must be adept at using modern scientific and technological techniques and improve our capabilities of using intelligence as a guide, generating accurate early warnings, conducting active prevention and control, and launching precision strikes. We must pay more attention to the in-depth integration of informatization with law enforcement and case handling and use informatization to standardize law enforcement and judicial actions, strengthen internal and external supervision, and improve the quality and efficiency of law enforcement and case handling. We must pay more attention to the need for scientific and technological policing and promote the transition of political and legal affairs teams to connotative development. Fifth, promote the transition to greater openness. Political and legal affairs work is confidential. At the same time, it must adapt to the requirements of societal openness, continuously strengthen communication with society, and win the understanding and support of the whole society for political and legal affairs work. We must pay more attention to respecting the dominant position of the people, solve practical problems that the people are concerned about, broaden the channels for the participation and supervision of the people, and lay a solid foundation for the masses in political and legal affairs work. We must pay more attention to solving the problems faced by political and legal affairs work with the help of external brains and external forces. We must pay more attention to deepening law enforcement and judicial openness and promote justice and build public trust through openness. We must pay more attention to the advantages of using new media, continuously improve social communication skills, and create a good public opinion ecosystem for political and legal affairs work. 

2015 is a critical year for comprehensively deepening reforms and the first year for comprehensively advancing the rule of law. It is of great significance that we do a good job in political and legal affairs. National political and legal institutions must thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the Eighteenth Party Congress, the 3rd and 4th Plenums of the Eighteenth Central Committee, and the Central Economic Work Conference, and further study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches. In accordance with the requirements of building a well-off society in an all-round way, deepening reforms in an all-round way, the comprehensive rule of law, and the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, we must actively adapt to new changes in the situation, adhere to the rule of law as our guide, further promote the reform of the judicial system, further promote the building of a peaceful China, a China under the rule of law, and strong teams, effectively enhance the foresight and initiative in our work, improve the capacity and level of law enforcement and judicial work, effectively prevent and control various risks, and faithfully fulfill the duties and missions of maintaining the overall stability of society, promoting social fairness and justice, and ensuring that the people live and work in peace and contentment. We must create a secure and stable social environment, a fair and just legal environment, and a high-quality and efficient service environment for the building of a well-off society in an all-round way. 

II. Uphold governance according to law and comprehensive policy implementation and improve the capacity and level of national security and social stability maintenance

Attaching a high level of importance to the maintenance of national security and social stability is an important experience of our Party in governing the country. It is a major event related to the life and death of the Party and the country and the overall development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must adhere to bottom line thinking and problem orientation, establish an overall national security outlook, pay more attention to governance according to law, give full play to the advantages of the socialist system, and better shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding national security and social stability. 

(i) Do not relax our grip in the fight against terrorism to ensure the long-term peace and stability of the country. Currently, the level of global terrorist activities is significantly increasing. Under the unified leadership of the Party committee and the government, the relevant departments in all regions must strengthen coordination and cooperation, and deepen special initiatives against violence and terrorism. 

(ii) Adhere to the combination of end-stage treatment and front-end governance to effectively raise the level of prevention and resolution of social contradictions. All localities must work with relevant departments to investigate factors of instability and uncertainty and ensure that they are aware of all kinds of contradictions. For contradictions found during investigation, we must take responsibility for prevention and resolution one by one, be adept at using consultative democracy and the rule of law, improve mediation, arbitration, administrative adjudication and reconsideration, litigation, and other diversified dispute resolution mechanisms featuring organic connections and mutual coordination, and improve the effectiveness of prevention and resolution. 

With respect to social contradictions, we must not only do a good job in dealing with issues at the end-stage, but also deeply analyze the root causes and intensify efforts to implement governance at the source. In response to contradictions such as wages and benefits caused by the increasing downward pressure of the economy, we must remind relevant companies to resolve problems of vital interest to their employees. In response to the social stability risks that may arise in the process of adjusting the industrial structure, resolving excess capacity, solving local government debt, and promoting reforms in the financial sector, we must recommend relevant regions and departments to do a good job in assessing the social stability risks of major reforms and prevent the formation of industrial and regional social risks. In view of the contradictions in the fields of land acquisition, demolition, and environmental protection, we must recommend that relevant regions and departments balance economic development with improving people’s livelihoods and protecting the environment, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people in accordance with the law. 

Currently, the total number of petitions has fallen and the orderliness of petitions has begun to improve. In the next step, we must further promote the reform of the petition work system, organize and carry out this year’s activities for the construction of the rule of law in petitions, and continue to focus on raising the level of solving the reasonable demands of the masses and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the masses. We must speed up the comprehensive operation of the new platform for online petition information, improve the quality of online complaint handling, and gradually make online petitions the main channel for petitions. We must earnestly implement the petition regulations, further advance step-by-step visits in accordance with the law, strive to properly handle petition matters where and when they arise in accordance with the law, and increase the rate at which matters are handled at the first petition. We must accelerate the establishment of the rule of law for petitions, earnestly implement policy documents for the reform of petitions involving law and litigation, and promote the resolution of problems raised in petitions in a fair manner and in accordance with the law. 

(iii) Accelerate the innovation of a three-dimensional public security prevention and control system to effectively maintain public security. Public security has the closest relationship with the security of people’s lives and property. It is a barometer of the people’s sense of security and a weather vane of social stability. Today’s world gives rise to social risks. China is still in the primary stage of socialism and, even in megacities with relatively good infrastructure conditions, there are many hidden security hazards. Moreover, our level of routine security management is not high, and the social management and emergency response mechanisms are not sound. Slight negligence may lead to major safety accidents. In the face of the severe public security situation, we need to increase our Facing the severe public safety situation, we need to increase our awareness of danger, strengthen bottom line thinking, remember that “hidden dangers are more dangerous than a fire out in the open, prevention is better than disaster relief, and responsibility is heavier than Mount Tai,” and refuse to tolerate the slightest carelessness. We must always put the safety of the people in the first place, work with a strong sense of professionalism and sense of responsibility, and have the courage to take responsibility and fulfill our duties. We must continue to study new situations and new problems, continuously improve the rolling investigation, risk assessment, monitoring, and early warning mechanisms for various hidden security hazards, ensure that all kinds of risks affecting public security in local regions are well known, formulate a more pragmatic and efficient response plan, and truly form normalized security supervision mechanisms. For various large-scale mass activities, we must strictly implement safety precautions.
Spontaneous gatherings of the masses must also be included in the scope of research, judgment, and evaluation, and security measures should be formulated in advance to ensure absolute security. To strengthen fire control and traffic management, we must strictly supervise the security of hazardous materials to prevent major public safety accidents. 

Currently, China is still in a period of high incidence of criminal offenses. We must insist on proceeding from reality in everything, focus on cracking down on any crimes that stand out and focus on rectification wherever there is public security disorder, and effectively enhance the targetedness and proactivity of crackdown and rectification. We must strengthen research on the patterns of crime, innovate methods to fight crime, pay more attention to scientific and technological support and overall linkage, and effectively enhance the scientificity and effectiveness of cracking down and rectification. In response to stubborn maladies such as illegal gun trafficking, robbery, fraud, pornography, gambling, and drugs, we must establish normalized crackdown and rectification mechanisms and strike problems right when they show their heads to nip them in the bud. For economic crimes involving the masses such as illegal fund-raising, financial fraud, pyramid schemes, we must work with relevant departments to carry out special crackdowns and rectifications, strengthen risk early warning, strengthen publicity and education, and improve public identification and prevention capabilities, while protecting legal private lending and corporate financing activities in accordance with the law at the same time. In response to new types of crimes such as endangering food and drug safety, environmental pollution, telecommunications fraud, and transnational and cross-border crimes, we must study their patterns and characteristics, strengthen departmental cooperation, regional cooperation, and international cooperation, closely link administrative law enforcement and criminal justice as well as end-stage investigation and control and front-end management, and work to enhance the effectiveness of crime fighting and rectification. 

The Wuhan Conference held in 2014 laid out comprehensive deployments on the innovative and three-dimensional public security prevention and control system. The General Office of the Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinion Regarding Strengthening the Construction of a Societal Security Prevention and Control System. Its key points must be grasped and put into practice. All localities should improve their security construction leadership, departmental responsibility systems, and objective management responsibility systems, promote the effective operation of a three-dimensional public security prevention and control system, and improve their capacity to manage the public security situation under the conditions of dynamism and informatization. In the construction process, we must pay attention to systemicity and integrity, solve the problems of fragmentation and power dispersion, and ensure the formation of joint forces. We must pay attention to synergy and effectiveness. Through the improvement of intelligence early warning, actual combat command, departmental linkage, and regional cooperation mechanisms, we must strive to achieve dynamic prevention and control for society and the normalization of departmental and regional cooperation, and maximize total and individual unit combat effectiveness. We must pay attention to the foundation and source, By strengthening the construction of basic institutions and platforms, we must ensure that the three-dimensional public security prevention and control system plays a greater role. 

III. Deepen the reform of the judicial system and accelerate the construction of a fair, efficient, and authoritative socialist judicial system 

Comprehensively advancing the rule of law is a broad and profound revolution in the field of national governance, and the reform of the judicial system is the “highlight” of this revolution. First, we must earnestly strengthen ideological and political work. The reform of the judicial system involves the vital interests of the broad majority of judicial personnel. We must clarify the significance, speak the truth clearly, take relevant interests into account, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of judicial personnel, and maximize the cohesion of positive energy to promote reform. Leading cadres must dare to take responsibility and forge ahead. They must be grounded and proceeding from reality, but must also have ideals. They must give full consideration to the long-term development of political and legal undertakings and make substantive progress in resolving deep-seated systemic issues. Second, we must adhere to the path of reform that features Chinese socialist characteristics and conforms to judicial laws. The deepening of the reform of the judicial system must be carried out under the unified leadership of the Party, proceed from the basic national conditions, better respect judicial laws, and strive to create a higher level of socialist judicial civilization. Third, we must establish an overall outlook on reform. We must persist in proceeding from the overall development of the Party and the country, plan and put forward reform measures, dare to move our own “cheese” (奶酪, work for our own interests), and have a mindset for self-innovation. For pilot units, higher-level institutions must strengthen guidance, encourage and support pilot units to actively explore in line with the direction, goals, and principles of judicial system reform proposed by the central government, and stimulate the vitality of grassroots creativity. Fourth, we must coordinate and advance the reform of the judicial system. We must thoroughly study the relevance of various reforms, proceed in phases and steps in accordance with the principles of easy at first but difficult later, overall planning, and orderly and according to law. When there is a consensus and the conditions are met, we can move quickly and achieve early results. When we do not yet have the conditions for comprehensive implementation, we can conduct pilot projects first to discover the rules and accumulate experience. In complex and difficult situations, we can conduct in-depth research and demonstration. We must strengthen communication and linkage with legislative institutions, promptly make legislative proposals, require legislative institution authorizations to follow legal procedures, and ensure that the reform of the judicial system is based on the law. 

This year is a year of comprehensive and in-depth progress in the reform of the judicial system. We must follow the central government’s unified deployments, move forward quickly with a sense of urgency, and steadily push forward the reform of the judicial system, and strive to achieve new and greater progress. 

(i) Further advance a number of reform pilot projects that have already been initiated and achieve greater progress during the year. Four reforms, including the improvement of the judicial accountability system, occupy a fundamental position in the reform of the judicial system. We must carry out relevant pilot projects in various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities during the year. In the pilot projects, the number of judges and prosecutors must be determined scientifically and rationally in accordance with judicial laws and a comprehensive consideration of the actual situation of the team and the number of cases handled. We must set up selection committees for judges and prosecutors at the provincial level. Selection work should follow strict standards, optimizing procedures, admitting the best, and gradual additions, without special accommodations to ensure that people with a high level of professionalism, wealth of judicial experience, and the ability to handle cases independently are selected for positions. We must expand the scope of selection and select more outstanding talents with high quality, legal literacy, and rich practical experience into the ranks of judges and prosecutors. 

Pilot projects for the establishment of people’s courts and people’s procuratorates operating across administrative jurisdictions and supreme people’s court circuit courts are important tasks for this year in the reform of the judicial system. The central government has approved the addition of a municipal intermediate people’s court and a municipal people’s procuratorate branch to the Beijing and Shanghai Railway Transportation Intermediate Courts and the Procuratorate Branch, respectively, as a pilot project for the operation of people’s courts and people’s procuratorates across administrative jurisdictions. After the National People’s Congress revised the relevant laws, other provinces, regions, and cities will also carry out pilot projects and promote the formation of a new litigation pattern in which ordinary cases are tried in administrative district courts and special cases are tried in district courts that operate across administrative jurisdictions. With the approval of the central government, the Supreme People’s Court established its first and second circuit courts in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province and Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. We must actively explore the operation and management mechanisms of the authority of circuit courts to conduct trials, handle major administrative, civil, and commercial cases across administrative jurisdictions, and give full play to the circuit court functions of facilitating litigation by litigants, resolving disputes on the spot, and promoting judicial impartiality. 

(ii) Accelerate the deployment of a number of influential reform tasks and achieve staged results within the year. With regard to the reform tasks deployed by the Fourth Plenum, we must clearly prioritize them, start from the areas where the people have the highest exceptions, start from the most prominent issues affecting judicial impartiality and constraining judicial capacity, start from the areas where consensus has been formed in all aspects, and promptly launch a number of reform measures. 

In terms of ensuring the independent and impartial exercise of power in accordance with the law, we must establish a record, notification, and accountability system for leading cadres’ intervention in judicial activities so that leading cadres must record any contact they have in judicial activities and can be held accountable in the event of consequences. We must establish and improve the record system and accountability system for the internal staff of judicial institutions. We must establish a protection mechanism to ensure that judicial personnel perform their statutory duties and prevent people from using their power to retaliate against judicial personnel who perform their duties and uphold impartiality in the judiciary. 

In terms of establishing standardized and orderly operating mechanisms for judicial power, we must advance the reform of the trial-centered litigation system and ensure the quality of case handling and judicial impartiality. We must reform the court case acceptance system and change the case filing review system to a case filing registration system. The people’s courts shall ensure that cases must be opened and litigation must be dealt with in accordance with the law so as to protect the right of litigation. We must improve the court trial-level system. The first trial level will focus on resolving the determination of facts and application of the law. The second trial level will focus on resolving factual legal disputes so that the trial is concluded at the second trial level. Retrial will focus on resolving errors according to law and maintaining the authority of judges. We must deepen the reform of the people’s assessor and people’s supervisor system, expand the scope from which people’s assessors are selected, ensure the people’s participation in justice in accordance with the law, and improve judicial credibility. 

In terms of comprehensively deepening public security reforms, we must do a good job in implementing the Framework Opinions on Several Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Public Security Reform and the three supporting plans. 

In deepening the reform of judicial administration, first, we must deepen the reform of the lawyer system. After Comrade Zou Bihua, the Vice-president of Shanghai Higher People’s Court, died at his post, there was a strong response from all walks of life, including lawyers, who expressed their mourning one after another. The important reason for this was that he was not only loyal and dedicated and insisted on justice for the people, but he also attached importance to the work of lawyers and respected and protects the rights of lawyers to practice law. Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping gave important instructions, praising him as a good judge who was just and fair to the people and a good cadre who dared to take initiative. We must actively respond to the call of General Secretary Xi Jinping and learn from Comrade Zou Bihua. To be like him, we must fully recognize that teams of lawyers are an important force for governing the country according to law and attach great importance to and vigorously strengthen the work of lawyers. We must use ideological guidance, political incentives, and rights protection to unite lawyers around the Party to the maximum extent. We must conscientiously implement various laws and regulations and ensure that lawyers exercise their right to practice law in accordance with the law. We must make listening with patience a quality of judges and prosecutors and ensure that work mechanisms allow lawyers’ opinions to be heard and reasonable opinions to be accepted. We must use institutions to standardize the relationship between judges, prosecutors, people’s police, and lawyers, while avoiding both unsophisticated understandings of relations and blind physical separation. We must guide lawyers to focus on familiarizing themselves with cases, studying the law, and improving their professionalism, instead of building relationships, engaging in public relations, and succumbing to the illegal demands of other persons for the sake of fame and fortune. Second, we must deepen the reform of the prison system. We must regard the education and reformation of criminals as the central task, improve the security, standardized, and civilized management system, strengthen the protection of the human rights of criminals, and improve the quality of education and reformation and the level of security supervision. Third, we must improve the community correction system. We must accelerate the promotion of community correction legislation, comprehensively promote community correction work, and improve the effectiveness of community corrections. Fourth, we must improve the judicial appraisal (司法鉴定, also translated as “judicial authentication”) management system. We must implement the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the Administration of Judicial Authentication, improve the judicial appraisal management system under the unified management of judicial administrative institutions, and improve the judicial appraisal institutions and personnel supervision and management systems. 

(iii) Organize research and demonstration for a number of difficult reform projects and form the basic thinking for reform as soon as possible. Explore the establishment of a system by which procuratorial institutions can initiate public interest litigation to safeguard national and social public interests. Improve the scheme for a leniency system in cases with a confession of guilt and acceptance of punishment, reduce litigation costs, and improve judicial efficiency. Study the establishment of a system of life-long prohibition of engaging in the legal profession and maintain the seriousness and sacredness of the legal profession. On the basis of summarizing the experience of the separation of trial and enforcement inside the people’s courts, we must study and demonstrate a model of the external separation of trial authority and enforcement authority. 

IV. Earnestly implement the new requirements of governing the country according to law and unremittingly promote strict law enforcement, civilized law enforcement, and an impartial judiciary

The key to governing the country according to law is strict law enforcement and an impartial judiciary. As the main force and a new force in law enforcement and the judiciary, political and legal institutions have special responsibilities in the historical process of comprehensively advancing the rule of law. We must conscientiously implement the new requirements for comprehensively governing the country according to law, innovate in concepts, improve systems, and strengthen supervision, ensure strict law enforcement, civilized law enforcement, and an impartial judiciary, and enhance the credibility of law enforcement and the judiciary. 

(i) Take the lead in belief in the rule of law and adherence to the rule of law and regulate and constrain law enforcement and judicial power in accordance with the law. The rule of law is the institutional cornerstone of a country’s prosperity. Constraining power and protecting rights are the main idea and essence of the rule of law. Whether or not political and legal affairs leaders can consciously use the law to constrain their power is the touchstone for testing whether they believe in the rule of law and adhere to the rule of law. We must deeply understand that the law focuses on constraining power, always maintain respect for the law, consciously unify the professional conscience of law enforcement for the people with the spirit of the rule of law of impartial law enforcement, take the lead in observing the law and enforcing the rule of law, refuse to override the national law, substitute one’s words for the law, or use power to suppress the law. Never use public tools for private purposes or seek personal gain. 

In the first half of the year, we will hold a seminar on comprehensively promoting the rule of law. We hope that through the study and discussion of the spirit of the Fourth Plenum, we can enable leading political and legal affairs cadres to more comprehensively and accurately grasp the goals and tasks of governing the country according to law, firmly establish awareness of strictly regulating the exercise of power in accordance with the law and consciously accepting restrictions and supervision, and truly believe in the rule of law and adhere to the rule of law. We must persist in setting an example and leading by example, making it the conscious action of all cadres and police officers to exercise law enforcement and judicial power in strict accordance with statutory powers and procedures. 

(ii) Deeply promote the construction of law enforcement and judicial standardization and truly put law enforcement and judicial power in an institutional cage. Whether the actions of law enforcement and the judiciary are standardized not only affects the credibility of law enforcement and the judiciary, but also affects the level of civilization of the rule of law in the country. We must put the in-depth promotion of the construction of law enforcement and judicial standardization in a more important position to ensure that law enforcement and judicial power is exercised in accordance with the law. In view of the prominent problems existing in law enforcement and judicial activities, we must unravel the issues one by one and earnestly study and solve them. Recently, the Office of the Central Committee and the Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Further Regulating the Disposition of Property Related to Criminal Proceedings and clarified the scope and procedures for the seizure and freezing of property involved in cases. We must establish a system for the transfer, management, and turnover of the property involved in cases, and political and legal institutions at all levels must conscientiously implement it. In response to the problem of different judgments for the same case, we must improve the benchmark system of law enforcement discretionary power, deepen the reform of sentencing standards, and improve the case guidance system. In view of the insufficient linkage between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, we must establish and improve mechanisms for information sharing, case status notifications, and case transfers between administrative law enforcement institutions and judicial institutions in order to prevent cases that do not move forward and the use of fines instead of formal sentences. 

Since the Eighteenth Party Congress, some localities have successively corrected some unjust, false, and erroneous cases from the past. For these cases, we must reflect on the concepts and institutions. We must further change the judicial philosophy, follow the laws of criminal litigation activities, handle the relationship between the punishment of crimes and the protection of human rights, seriously implement the revised criminal procedure law and other legal systems, and effectively strengthen the protection of human rights in the field of criminal justice. Combined with the advancement of the reform of the trial-centered litigation system, we must strengthen the institutional guarantees of the legal rights and interests of the parties and other participants in litigation, focus on improving the implementation of legally prescribed crimes and punishments, presumption of innocence, and the elimination of illegal evidence, and other systems, improve judicial supervision of compulsory measures and investigative methods that restrict personal freedom, strengthen the prevention of torture to extract confessions and illegal evidence collection at the source, and give full play to the decisive role of court trials in ascertaining facts, determining evidence, protecting litigation rights, and reaching fair judgments. Implement the requirements of procedural fairness, change the tendency of emphasizing entities rather than procedures, and ensure that every aspect of law enforcement and case handling meets the requirements of procedural norms. We must explore the establishment of a remote-site review system for appeals in criminal cases and ensure that problems in every aspect of law enforcement and case handling can be discovered, corrected, and relevant people held accountable in a timely manner. In cases of torture to extract a confession, favoritism, or gross negligence resulting in death or wrongful conviction, or delays in correcting wrongful convictions after the fact that cause serious consequences, the responsible persons shall be held accountable for life and be dealt with seriously. 

The occurrence of unjust, false, and erroneous cases is also closely related to an incorrect guiding ideology for handling cases, slogans that are not connected to reality, and inappropriate assessments. This year, the central political and legal units and local political and legal institutions will conduct a comprehensive review of various law enforcement judicial assessment indicators. resolutely abolish unreasonable assessment items such as the number of criminal detentions, rate of arrests, rate of prosecution, rate of convictions, and rate of case closure. At the same time, in conjunction with deepening the reform of the judicial system, we must establish a scientific incentive mechanism, implement case handling responsibilities, strengthen supervision and control, and ensure that cadres and police officers handle cases in accordance with the law and handle cases well. 

(iii) Strengthen constraint and supervision to prevent the abuse of law enforcement and judicial power. Power that lacks constraint will inevitably be abused. This is an iron law of history. We must improve the implementation of constraint based on law institutions and mechanisms between different links and departments to ensure that law enforcement and judicial powers operate in accordance with the law. For departments and posts where law enforcement and judicial power are concentrated, we must divide powers based on responsibilities, establish powers based on posts, and grant power based on levels. All political and legal units must implement the system of the division of responsibility, mutual cooperation, and mutual constraint stipulated in the Constitution. People’s procuratorates and people’s courts must be loyal to facts and the law, prevent “sick” (带病) cases with unclear facts and insufficient evidence or cases that violate legal procedures from entering prosecution and trial procedures. Starting in the wrong way will cause the wrong to continue throughout the process and lead to a wrong conclusion. We must improve the legal system to allow procuratorial organs to exercise their supervisory power, strengthen legal supervision of criminal, civil, and administrative litigation, and promote judicial impartiality. 

Informatization is not only an important support for strengthening the management and improving the effectiveness of law enforcement and the judiciary, but also an important means to deepen the openness and enhance the credibility of law enforcement and the judiciary. We need to establish a cross-departmental law enforcement case-handling full-service and full-process informatized integrated system and promote the in-depth integration of informatization construction and law enforcement case-handling supervision and management mechanisms. We must use openness as a bridge by which law enforcement and judicial institutions can connect to society, build open, dynamic, transparent, and convenient new law enforcement and judicial mechanisms, strive to achieve a high degree of convergence between openness and impartiality, and truly allow law enforcement and justice to win the trust of the society through openness and self-confidence. We must build new media such as Weibo, WeChat, and mobile clients into new platforms for information publication, communication, and interaction and continue to expand the breadth and depth of law enforcement and judicial disclosures. 

(iv) We must hold high the banner of maintaining the authority of the rule of law and create a good environment conducive to strict law enforcement, civilized law enforcement, and an impartial judiciary. As law enforcement and judicial institutions, the abuse of power by political and legal institutions damages the authority of the rule of law, and the failure of such institutions to perform their duties will also damage the authority of the rule of law. We cannot be afraid, unwilling, or unable to enforce the law just because we are emphasizing the constraint of power. Rather, we must take strict law enforcement as a basic requirement, strengthen management and crack down on crimes in accordance with the law, and never selectively enforce the law or engage in extra-legal favors. Regarding violations and crimes in areas such as food safety, environmental protection, and production safety, we must earnestly take responsibility, strictly investigate and deal with issues in accordance with the law, and resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the people. 

We must properly handle the relationship between strict law enforcement and civilized law enforcement, improve law enforcement methods, pay attention to language and behavioral norms, and use the law as the basis and use reason to convince people. We must effectively do a good job in on-site law enforcement audio and video recording work, standardize cadres’ and police officers’ on-site law enforcement behavior, protect their legitimate rights and interests, and effectively respond to social concerns. 

In the face of new changes in the public opinion field, we must establish the concept of proactive propaganda and try to launch activities that invite the public into law enforcement and judicial institutions. We must be good at coordinating political and legal resources and social resources, make full use of new media, and use storytelling to convey key work and moving stories to the society in a timely manner so that the people will trust and support law enforcement and judicial work. We must strengthen propaganda for the rule of law, establish a system for judges, prosecutors, administrative law enforcement personnel, and lawyers to interpret the law through cases, and create a good social environment for strict law enforcement, civilized law enforcement, and an impartial judiciary. 

V. Effectively strengthen the construction of political and legal affairs teams and continuously improve their ideological and political quality and the ability to perform their duties.

To do a good job in political and legal affairs work under the new situation, the most fundamental thing is to build political and legal affairs teams with strong politics, strong service, and strong style. We must implement the requirements of comprehensive and strict Party governance. In accordance with the requirements of formalization, specialization, and professionalization, we must effectively improve the ideological and political quality, service work capabilities, and professional ethical standards and strive to build a political and legal team that is loyal to the Party, loyal to the country, loyal to the people, and loyal to the law. 

(i) Strictly abide by the Party’s discipline and political rules and ensure that the political and legal affairs cadres and police officers are absolutely loyal and reliable. Party discipline is the life of the Party. Political and legal institutions are the knives in the hands of the Party and the people. Only by strictly observing the Party’s discipline and political rules can the knives be firmly in the hands of the Party and the people. Under the new situation, the Party and the people’s goals are more ambitious, the tasks of the political and legal institutions are more onerous, the rules and discipline must be more firmly maintained, and all actions are subject to the Party’s command. We demand that we personally live up to stronger Party spirit principles, political awareness, and organizational philosophy, always maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its General Secretary in ideological and political actions, and always be a loyal guardian of the Party and the people.   

In recent years, some political and legal affairs leaders have embarked on the road of illegal crimes. The most fundamental reason for this is that there are problems with ideals and beliefs and their values are seriously distorted, breaking the bottom lines of Party discipline and state laws. Swaying in one’s ideals is the most dangerous sort of swaying. We must unremittingly grasp the Party’s scientific and theoretical arms, effectively strengthen the study of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, effectively strengthen the study of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches, continuously raise our level of ideology and theory, truly and firmly establish ideals and beliefs, and consciously become a firm believer and loyal practitioner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must further strengthen the cultivation and training of Party spirit, continuously transform the subjective world, consciously draw clear lines to delineate words and deeds that violate the principles of Party spirit, and always think about problems and take action from the standpoint of the Party and the people. We must carry out the Party’s political discipline and organizational discipline education in depth, never allow anything to override to the organization, never allow any compromises or choices in implementing the Party Central Committee’s decisions and deployments, never allow the relationship between superiors and subordinates to become personal relationships of dependency, and never allow the formation of cliques. We must stress Party spirit and principles, dare to fight against acts that undermine the Party’s discipline and political rules, and dare to struggle against all unhealthy trends. We must strengthen the inspection of the implementation of the Party’s political and organizational discipline, strictly investigate and deal with the failure to follow commands, failure to follow prohibitions, deception of the organization, and anti-organizational behaviors, and ensure the smooth flow of the orders of the central government. 

(ii) Deeply promote the construction of Party style and clean government and the fight against corruption and improve the ability of political and legal affairs teams to resist corruption and prevent degeneration. Corruption is a malignant tumor that invades the healthy body of the Party. Persevering in opposing corruption and unswervingly cutting off the malignant tumor of corruption are inevitable requirements for upholding the Party’s nature and purpose and consolidating the Party’s ruling foundation. At present, the anti-corruption struggle on the political and legal fronts is still grim. We must not only deeply reflect on the painful lessons of the Zhou Yongkang case, but also thoroughly eliminate the impact of the Zhou Yongkang case. We must conscientiously study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the 5th Plenum of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and unswervingly promote the construction of Party style and clean government and the fight against corruption. Regarding the problem of corruption, we must maintain a zero-tolerance attitude and not relax the standard of severe punishment. Issues discovered together will be investigated and handled together. In the fight against corruption, there are no forbidden zones, no special areas, and no blind spots. We must combine positive education with negative warnings, strengthening Party spirit and discipline, solving problems, and improving institutions and form an effective mechanism so that people fear to be corrupt, are unable to be corrupt, and do not want to be corrupt. 

Political and legal affairs leaders are the leaders of the political and legal affairs teams and the weather vanes of the political ecosystem. We must integrate the “Three Stricts, Three Honests” themed education carried out among leading cadres at the county level and above, be deeply aware that the power conferred by the Party and the people is a heavy responsibility, always keep in mind that we are cadres of the ruling Party, consciously use power on the track of the rule of law, be adept at working under supervision and be an honest person, work with a clear conscience, and be upright as an official. We must use the cases of political and legal leaders whose violation of laws and discipline have been investigated and dealt with since the Eighteenth Party Congress as teaching material to show what not to do, carry out in-depth warning education, deeply realize that power, status, and money are all things outside of the body that cannot give life or stave off death, consciously enhance the awareness of honesty in politics, build a strong line of defense against corruption and degeneration, be able to withstand the temptations of selfish desires, selfish feelings, and selfish interests, and always maintain a clean and honest political character. 

High-quality political and legal teams are the product of education and strict management. Political and legal affairs leaders must strictly implement “One Post, Two Responsibilities,” dare to manage, be willing to manage, and know how to manage political and legal affairs teams. We must work hard in peacetime and change the phenomenon that no one looks for problems and problems are only handled when they become obvious. We must go out to meet to small problems that have just emerged. We must “make a big deal” out of some small problems when are accustomed to. For some contagious and harmful “germs”, vaccinations should be administered early on to enhance immunity. Currently, we must use constant tenacity and patience to resolutely oppose and rectify thinking that one deserves special privileges, bureaucratic habits, and domineering styles and resolutely oppose and rectify cases involving relationships, favors, and money. Issues such as abuse of power, favoritism and fraud, corruption and perverting the law, buying and selling officials, collecting money for people, or even acting as a protective umbrella for underworld forces must be thoroughly investigated and never tolerated. 

The most effective and lasting way to govern the Party is to use institutions. We must effectively tighten the institutional cage and never allow power to be used as a tool for personal gain. We must improve internal and external supervision and constriction mechanisms in key areas that are prone to corruption and block up rent-seeking spaces for law enforcement and judicial power. We must rationally decompose and allocate power scientifically, work to improve the systems for selecting, employing, and managing people, strictly implement the “Three Leaders” (三长) exchange and appointment system for public security, procuratorate, and court institutions, increase the intensity of cadre exchange and rotation, and use institutions to prevent and reduce corruption. 

(iii) Put specialization construction in a more prominent position to improve the professional abilities of political and legal affairs cadres and police officers. Faced with heavy political and legal affairs tasks and a complicated law enforcement and judicial environment and faced with the new requirements of comprehensive rule of law, we must take specialization as the core combat capability of political and legal affairs teams, actively explore educational management models that meet the requirements of specialization, and strive to make it so cadres and police officers with rich legal knowledge, good professionalism, high professional standards, and high professional ethics. 

Innovative education and training systems are an important way to improve cadres’ and police officers’ professional abilities. We need to deepen the training for job qualifications, job skills, and special professional responsibilities and cultivate political and legal affairs leadership talents, professional talents, and specialized talents. At present, strengthening the education and training of grassroots front-line leaders and backbones such as institutes, teams, and courts is not only a key point in strengthening grassroots infrastructure construction, but also a focal point for improving the quality and ability of political and legal affairs teams. The front-line leaders and backbones of the institutes, teams, and courts are the vanguard and rearguard, and various political and legal affairs work primarily depends on them for concrete organization and implementation. Their quality and capabilities directly determine the overall level of political and legal affairs work. In the mass-media era, every grassroots law enforcement and judicial unit is related to the overall image of political and legal institutions. We must focus on how grassroots frontline leaders and backbones such as institutes, teams, and courts carry out their work, solve difficult problems, lead the teams properly carry out in-depth education and training, strive to cultivate them into grassroots frontline leadership talents who are politically firm, proficient at their work, outstanding in work style, good at leading troops into battle, and good at law enforcement case-handling. 

Improving and implementing the legal profession access system is the key to ensuring the professional quality of political and legal affairs teams. We must promptly study the change of the judicial examination system to the national uniform legal professional qualification examination system and include the legal professional standpoint, ethics, and skills in the scope of the examination. We must actively explore the establishment of absorption mechanisms for the orderly flow of talent in the legal profession, accelerate the implementation of the system of recruiting judges and prosecutors from qualified lawyers and legal experts, improve standardized and convenient mechanisms for recruiting talents from graduates in the field of political and legal affairs, improve the two-way exchange mechanisms between political science and law departments, law schools, and law research institutions, and cultivate a team of high-quality legal affairs talents. 

(iv) Further care for and protect cadres and police officers and maximize the vitality of the political and legal affairs teams. We must be more concerned about ideological and political matters, show more care for the work and lives of cadres and police officers, and strive to create a good environment that wins the hearts of the people. We must pay more attention to the scientific use of the police, rationally arrange their work and life, and implement the rotation system to ensure a balance of work and rest, tension and relaxation. We must emphasize humane care and improve health check-ups, diagnosis and treatment, psychological counseling services, and crisis intervention mechanisms to relieve physical and mental stress. We must accelerate the promotion of cadres’ and police officers’ participation in work-related injury insurance and personal accident insurance and implement preferential treatment policies for cadres and police officers who are injured or give their lives in the line of duty. We must do everything possible to help solve the practical difficulties of police officers’ housing and family employment, so as to unite the hearts of the people to the greatest extent. We must strengthen the construction of political and legal culture, build a good spiritual home, and guide police officers to work and live happily. 

VI. Uphold the Party’s leadership over political and legal affairs work and improve the scientific level of the Party’s leadership in political and legal affairs work under the new situation

Uphold the Party’s leadership over political and legal affairs work is the most distinctive requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the most fundamental guarantee for the judicial system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Decision of the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee pointed out that the Political and Legal Affairs Committee is an organizational form by which the Party committee can lead political and legal affairs work and that it must be adhered to long-term. This is the institutional guarantee for upholding the Party’s leadership in political and legal affairs work. Under the new situation of comprehensive rule of law, Party committees at all levels must strengthen and improve their leadership over political and legal affairs work to provide a strong guarantee for the development and progress of political and legal affairs work. The political and legal committees of Party committees at all levels must focus their work on grasping the political direction, coordinating the functions of all parties, coordinating political and legal affairs work, building political and legal affairs teams, supervising the performance of duties in accordance with the law, and creating a fair judicial environment. They must better guarantee the implementation of the Party line, principles, and policies and ensure the correct and unified implementation of the Constitution and laws. 

(i) Be adept at setting the political direction and ensure that the principles of the Party administration of political and legal affairs are implemented. The Party’s leadership over political and legal affairs work is ideological, political, and organizational leadership, and the most important thing is to set a good political direction. The political and legal affairs committees of Party committees at all levels should help political and legal units grasp ideological trends and reform orientations to ensure that the Party line, principle, and policies are implemented. Party organizations in political and legal units must improve their systems for reporting major issues to Party committees to ensure that political and legal work proceeds in the right direction. We must strengthen the building of Party organizations in the various business departments and grassroots units of political and legal institutions and give full play to their role as a fighting fortress. For Party member cadres and police officers,  we must strengthen Party spirit education, strengthen Party awareness, and have them play an exemplary vanguard role through Party member responsibility areas, vanguard posts, and commitment systems. 

(ii) Be adept at grasping major issues and looking for the overall situation and improve the ability to coordinate and solve major problems. The political and legal affairs committees of Party committees at all levels have the political responsibility of maintaining the overall stability of the society, promoting social fairness and justice, and ensuring that the people live and work in peace and contentment. One by one, we must sort out and be aware of potential risks and major issues affecting national security and social stability in local regions, problematic trends and tendencies in law enforcement and judicial work, symptomatic and recurring problems in the political and legal affairs teams, issues related to the overall and long-term infrastructure and institution building in political and legal work. We must be adept at coordinating all types of resources and work hard to promote solutions. In our work, we must be adept at using the leadership approach where the Party committee oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties to improve the scientific level of leadership over political and legal affairs work. 

(iii) Be adept at using rule of law thinking and methods to lead political and legal affairs work and improve the level of rule of law in political and legal affairs work. Under the new situation of comprehensive rule of law, the concepts, systems, and methods of the Party’s leadership over political and legal affairs work must better reflect the laws and requirements of the rule of law. The political and legal committees of Party committees at all levels must be a model of compliance with the law, firmly establish awareness of rules, procedures, and power constraints, be adept at using rule of law thinking to plan political and legal affairs work, and be adept at using the rule of law to solve problems that affect national security and social stability. We must support judicial organs and procuratorial organs in their independent and impartial exercise of their judicial and procuratorial powers in accordance with the law and support political and legal units to independently assume responsibility and coordinate their work in accordance with the Constitution and laws. We must support relevant departments as they deal with violations of the law, such as obstructing judicial organs in exercising their powers in accordance with the law, refusing to implement valid rulings, and contempt of court authority. 

(iv) Be good at grasping key specifics and earnestly enhance the execution of political and legal affairs work. We must do a good job in political and legal affairs work under the new situation, not only require scientific thinking but also strong operational capabilities, and strive to change ideas into plans and plans into actions. In the face of a complicated social environment, political and legal affairs leaders must be good at doing away with the limitations of transactional work, be adept at considering and solving problems from an overall perspective, and truly get straight to the point in their work. We must be good at grasping the essentials, setting clear priorities, identifying the focus of work, grasping the key issues that affect the whole body, and ensuring that central decisions and deployments are implemented. We must strengthen specific guidance and focus on solving practical problems that affect political and legal affairs work. We must strengthen investigation and research, use scientific thinking methods based on the possession of a large amount of information, correctly understand and proactively adapt to changes in political and legal affairs work, be adept at grasping the future of political and legal affairs work, and enhance foresight in the work. We must work hard and continuously hone and improve our governance ability in practice and strive to create a new realm and new atmosphere in political and legal affairs work. We will make new contributions to promote the building of a well-off society in an all-round way, deepening reforms in an all-round way, the comprehensive rule of law, and the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party!