Ladies and gentlemen:

"Rule of law" is the symbol of a politically civilized society. One of the important components of the great cause of building Chinese-style socialism is the achievements in striving to make China a state of rule of law in the past 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The successes in developing a socialist legal system not only reflect the course of China's socialist progress but have enriched its experience in building the socialist system.

Legislation is the premise for rule of law. By the end of August, 2009, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee have enacted 229 laws in effect, covering seven branches, i.e., Constitution and constitutional law, civil and commercial law, administrative law, economic law, social law, criminal law, and law of procedure and extrajudicial procedure; the State Council has formulated 682 administrative regulations in effect; the local people's congresses and their standing committees, more than 7,000 local regulations; the local congresses of the national autonomous areas, more than 600 autonomous regulations and separate regulations; the legislatures of the five special economic zones, more than 200 regulations in total; in addition, the departments under the State Council and the local governments vested with the power of legislation have formulated over 20,000 pieces of rules. So far, a Chinese-style socialist legal system is basically in shape, which takes the Constitution as the heart and the laws the backbone, contains administrative regulations, local regulations and other regulatory documents, and comprises seven legal branches and three levels of legal norms. It ensures there are laws to go by for almost every aspect of the nation's economic, political, cultural and social life. And it provides the legal guaranty for governing the country according to law, making China a socialist country of rule of law, and ultimately attaining long-lasting peace and order.

Legal system is not a system of abstract numbers or indexes; on the contrary, it is decided by the way of development of a country's legal system and by the society's need for law. Under China's socialist legal system, the law integrates the Party's standing and the people's will. Proceeding from both the future of the Party and the Nation in a larger picture and the practical need, we institutionalize and legalize through legislation the fields where prompt regulation is wanted and where the conditions for legislation are considerably mature; and implementation of these legislations are guaranteed by the mandatory power of the State. This is not only the successful experience in the development of China's legal system but the essential prerequisite for making good laws and bringing them into full play.

The law of China ensures the power of the people to run the country as the masters. The masses of people enjoy the right of information, participation, expression and supervision in the process of legislation. Through institutionalized channel, legislation embodies the willpower of the people, defines the common code of conduct and ensures the enforcement of such code. The law of China establishes China as a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship and protects it as such, establishes and keeps improving the political structure and organization of the state, carries forward functional transformation of the government and administrative innovation, and enhances public administration and service. The law of China establishes and protects the economic system of the state, promoting economic progress through guiding, regulating, encouraging and supporting the economic activities protected by law and banning and punish those in violation of law. The law of China establishes and maintains a social order of harmony and stability, ensuring that the masses of people enjoy their rights extensively, balancing the relations and interests among various social groups, protecting environment, conserving natural resources, harmonizing the relation between man and nature, and maintaining sustainable development of the economy.

To attain the goal of forming the Chinese-style socialist legal system by the year 2010, we focus on two major tasks in this year's legislative work. One task is to pay close attention to enacting and revising laws that are supportive in the legal system, and enhance legislation in the field of social law while keeping improving legislation in the economic, political and cultural fields. The other is to sort out the existing laws, categorizing the laws that are obviously unable to adapt to the need for development of the socialist economy, or are not completely consistent with one another, or are not coherent with each other, or are not sufficiently enforceable, and disposing them respectively by abolishing, revising or interpreting them or by enacting complementary laws, in order to make a more scientific, consistent and harmonious legal system to ensure implementation.

Legal construction within the government is an important aspect of China's socialist democratic and legal development. Administration according to law is the essential subject of governmental legal construction and the foundation and key for fully implementing the basic policy of governing the country according to law. For many years the Chinese Government has adopted a series of effective measures to enhance legal construction within the government, to promote administration according to law in an all-round way. With all these years' unremitting efforts, great progress has been made in promoting administration according to law, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Governments at various levels on the whole abide by law when exercising their administrative power and the quality of legislations formulated by them has definitely improved. The State Council from beginning to end has been adhering to complying legislative decisions with policies of reform. From 1979 to the end of August, 2009, the State Council has made 231 legislative proposals to the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee for deliberation, formulated 682 administrative regulations in effect. From 1987 when the recording system for regulations and rules was established to the end of August, 2009, the departments under the State Council and the local governments vested with the power of legislation have formulated 26,308 pieces of rules. More emphasis is attached to legislation in a scientific and democratic way. By the end of last August, the drafts of 53 administrative regulations were published for soliciting opinions from the general public. The government further transforms its functions and enhances internal construction. Reforming of the system of administrative review and approval is going steadily. The State Council and the local governments at various levels rescind and adjust in groups the items previously subject to administrative review and approval - so far, the State Council has rescinded 1,992 items in four groups and the local governments at various levels have rescinded or adjusted 77,692 items in total. Administrative law-enforcement system is reformed and an accountability system for administrative law-enforcement is applied, therefore law enforcement is strictly regulated. The aforesaid accountability system effectively regulates acts of administrative law-enforcement. The system of administrative supervision is improved and new methods of administrative supervision are introduced, which enhance supervision over administrative acts. Administrative reconsideration system is earnestly implemented. The authorities for administrative reconsideration at various levels have brought their role into active play when performing their functions to settle disputes in a timely manner. Now more than 80,000 cases in dispute are settled through administrative reconsideration each year. The State Council has initiated recording of regulations and rules in 1987. At present, almost all the regulations and rules formulated are reported and recorded in the year, and those contravening upper-level laws are handled in time, which helps maintain the consistency of the legal system. Under direction of the State Council, local governments have been actively exploring ways to establish their own recording and review system for regulatory documents and effectively tackled the problem of issuing official documents in an abusive and excessive way. Awareness and capability of administration according to law of the staff members, specially the leaders, of administrative organs has obviously increased. Localities and departments have taken various measures to train their staff members in administration according to law, the idea of administration according to law has taken root in their hearts.