MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Chinese Communist Party has convened on Monday a key meeting in Beijing at which rule of law was for the first time pronounced as central to the agenda, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to the newspaper, the principle of rule of law was labelled by the party as a "must" to bringing about social justice and reforms.
As well as discussions to create a form of governance that would function on the principle of rule of law, the party sought to establish greater social justice, according to Xinhua. Justice was also pledged by the party to be brought into courtrooms, with the whole of the Chinese judicial system to be made transparent.
Monday's meeting was the party's fourth plenary session and saw its leaders promising to create an "all-round well-off society" by 2020, Xinhua reported.
Experts have opined that the rule of law is pivotal to modern Chinese civilization and could contribute to the elimination of corruption as well as bring about new comprehensive reforms.
"We are hopeful and optimistic that the Chinese leadership will achieve all the ambitious objectives of recent meetings and documents. They should go a long way toward making China, its economy, society and political system fairer for its population," the European Institute for Asian Studies director David Fouquet was quoted by the news agency as saying.
Meanwhile, former Egyptian Ambassador to China Mahmoud Allam was quoted by Xinhua as saying, "It is a very positive step from China's Communist Party to follow up and attempt to develop such a legal system."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also addressed the Chinese Communist Party, calling on it to release all those that have been detained because of their views and to eliminate "all forms of arbitrary detention." It also urged the party to retract decisions on Hong Kong if their legality is in doubt.
