The rule of law is a necessary requirement of modernizing state governance system and capability.

On May 17, the fifth China Social Governance Forum was held at Beijing Normal University. Themed “Innovating Social Governance and Building a Society Based on Law: Guidance for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020),” the forum concentrated on related theoretical and practical problems.

At the meeting, Li Jinhua, vice-chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, pointed out that from the perspective of social construction and governance, comprehensively promoting the rule of law means advancing the building of a society based on law. The rule of law can guarantee the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and is an inevitable demand of modernizing state governance system and capability, Li said.
 

In his speech, Gao Xiang, secretary-general of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that it is important to absorb traditional Chinese society’s social governance experience while drawing on the successful experience of other countries to enrich governance theories and better guide practice.
 

Moreover, Wei Liqun, former secretary of the Party committee of the Chinese Academy of Governance, explained the definition and basic meaning of a society that is based on law. He said it should be people orientated, universal, systematic, comprehensive, equal and fair.
 

The conference had three sessions: “Constructing a Society of Law and Building a Moderately Prosperous Society,” “Construction of a Society of Law and Modernization of State Governance” and “Goals, Tasks and Approaches of Legal Society Construction.”
 

Other participants noted that the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee identified improving and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics as an overall goal along with promoting the modernization of the national governance system and capacity.
 

Innovation of social governance was recognized as an important part of realizing these goals, and the Fourth Plenary Session further highlighted the rule of law. Scholars should research various problems and challenges in order to contribute theoretical and practical efforts to modernizing social governance and promoting the rule of law, they suggested.