Chinese officials obligated to pledge allegiance to Constitution

BEIJING - Chinese government officials now pledge allegiance to the country's Constitution before taking office, said a key policy document of the Communist Party of China (CPC) published on Tuesday.

According to the CPC Central Committee's decision on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing rule of law, all officials elected or appointed by the people's congresses and their standing committees at both national and local levels must in future take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution in public.

The move is to help bolster the authority of the Constitution which should be the "basic law" governing the country, CPC Central Committee General Secretary Xi Jinping was quoted as saying when explaining the decision in another document also issued on Tuesday.

"The authority of rule of law relies on that of the Constitution," Xi said, adding that the public pledge of allegiance would encourage officials to abide by and protect the Constitution, and inspire the public to raise their Constitutional awareness.

The decision on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing rule of law was approved by the fourth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee last week. Its full text was published Tuesday.

It also set December 4 as China's Constitution Day, and said across-the-board education initiatives on the Constitution must be promoted to shore up public awareness.

China's current Constitution was adopted on Dec. 4, 1982 based on a previous version enacted in 1954.