Key talks on rule of law get underway

Top Party officials began a landmark meeting on Monday focusing on the rule of law.

They will deliberate on a draft decision covering "major issues concerning comprehensively advancing the rule of law", sources close to the meeting said.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee is meeting in Beijing from Monday to Thursday.

The decisions reached are expected to set the tone for promotion of the rule of law by the Party, and it is the first time a plenary session of the CPC Central Committee has taken the rule of law as its central theme.

The sources said the rule of law - which China wrote into its Constitution in the 1990s - will play a more prominent role in the overall work of the Party and the government.

The plenum has triggered international media attention.

It is expected to give provincial courts supervisory powers over their county-level peers on funding and appointments, removing the lower courts from the influence of local authorities, The Associated Press said in a report.

Xu Xin, a legal scholar in Beijing, told AP the plenary session may also introduce measures to curb corruption by requiring newly appointed officials to publicly disclose their personal assets and by setting up an anti-corruption agency.

Lian He Zao Bao, a newspaper based in Singapore, said in a report that setting up an anti-graft system and addressing judicial reform are likely to be key topics at the meeting.

David Fouquet, director of the European Institute for Asian Studies, said China has introduced and adopted legislation in recent years covering competition, labor and employment laws to bring them more in line with international standards.

"We are hopeful and optimistic that the Chinese leadership will achieve all the ambitious objectives raised at recent meetings and in documents," he said.

"That should go a long way toward making China - its economy, society and political system - fairer for its population."