Constitution revision vital to new era

Constitutional revisions based on Party leadership

The Party's leadership in constitutional revisions must be upheld, as it is the most fundamental guarantee for comprehensively advancing the rule of law and building a law-based socialist society. In China's constitutional development over the past nearly 70 years, the Constitution has been enacted and revised under the Party's leadership. The latest constitutional amendment will also be carried out under the unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core, reflecting China's confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics and its path, theory, system and culture.

Any constitutional revision must give full play to democracy and be based on extensive ideas and wisdom. Given that a constitutional revision has overall and far-reaching impact, it must conform to the requirements of the development cause of the Party and the nation, as well as follow the law of constitutional development. In all the constitutional revisions China has made, there was extensive public participation and soliciting of opinions from all walks of life, which ensured the revisions reflected the common will of the Party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups.

A constitutional revision must be conducted according to a specific constitutional procedure and in accordance with law. Under the leadership of the CPC, China has worked out a viable working procedure and mechanism that conform to the spirit of the Constitution. Article 64 of the Constitution stipulates that, "constitutional change must be made under the proposal by the Standing Committee of the NPC or more than one-fifth of NPC deputies and passed by more than two-thirds of the votes from NPC deputies". And a Party document stipulates that the CPC Central Committee propose to the NPC any constitutional revision, after which the task should be carried out according to a specific constitutional procedure.

This procedure can be divided into two stages, with the CPC Central Committee proposing a constitutional revision and submitting the proposal to the NPC's Standing Committee for review in the first stage. And in the second stage, the NPC Standing Committee is to organize discussions and work out the constitutional amendment, and submit it to the NPC for its review and passage.

For the latest constitutional revision, the CPC Central Committee held a special plenum for discussions, the first time in the Party's history, fully demonstrating that the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core attaches great importance to the constitutional amendment and State governance.

Moreover, since a constitutional amendment must be based on a prudent approach, it should not comprise a major change. The contents of China's Constitution are generally good, and what need to be changed are only part of or supplementary to the Constitution. There is no need to make unnecessary changes to the Constitution so as to maintain constitutional continuity, stability and authority.

Guarantee for socialism with Chinese characteristics

The latest constitutional amendment is to carry out the spirit of the 19th Party Congress under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, Scientific Outlook on Development and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and to write into the Constitution the significant theories and policies confirmed by the congress, especially Xi's thought, to highlight the new achievements, new experiences and new requirements of the development cause of the Party and the nation.

Based on the maintenance of general continuity and stability of the extant Constitution, the latest amendment aims to ensure China's constitutional development and improvement advance with the times and offer constitutional guarantee for adherence to and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to realize the "two centenary goals" and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

By raising the proposal to amend the Constitution at the second plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the Party aims to include Scientific Outlook on Development and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the Constitution, and confirm their guiding status in the country's political and social development along with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the Theory of Three Represents.

It also aims to promote coordinated development of material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization and ecological civilization, build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful, and realize the goal of national rejuvenation, along with a series of other great goals such as building a community of shared future for humankind.

The Constitution's authority lies in its implementation. Full implementation of the Constitution is the primary task and basic work for building China into a law-based socialist country. To amend the Constitution is to better implement it and give it greater say as the fundamental law of the State. The full implementation of the Constitution should be given priority in order to promote the rule of law, and we should strengthen the supervision over the Constitution's implementation to ensure the process enjoys political and systemic guarantee.