Law, reform must work in tandem, Xi tells meeting

President urges timely assignment of tasks to provide progress schedule

China's central leading group for overall reform emphasized at its second meeting on Friday afternoon in Beijing that all key reforms must conform to Chinese law.

Top leaders have not stressed coordinating reform and the legal system to this extent since the reforms started in the late 1970s.

President Xi Jinping, the leader of the group, said that legislation should be coordinated to ensure that reforms are implemented alongside new laws.

The central leading group was established by a decision of the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in November as a measure to promote the country's deepening of reforms.

The group's first meeting was held on Jan 22. It approved the working rules for the group and six subgroups.

The group's second meeting prioritized economic reform as it entails more coordinated efforts in related fields.

"Economic reform should be carried out to ensure macroeconomic growth and the improvement of people's lives," Xi said.

Xi presided over the meeting attended by deputy group leaders Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, as well as other group members and heads of relevant departments in the key reform fields.

With seven years left to fulfill the targets set by the Third Plenum, Xi emphasized the importance of this year's reforms at the meeting.

"The starting of a race decides the second half of the race, and implementation is the key for effectively deepening reforms," Xi said.

Judicial and social system reforms should integrate old and new systems to foster justice and fairness, he said.

"As for the reforms concerning people's immediate interests, there should be a social-stability evaluation system to ensure that their concerns are heeded and that all reforms serve the people's interests," Xi said.

"There must be a workable evaluation mechanism to assess reform results and interpret reform plans for the citizens."

Attendees at the meeting deliberated on and passed the group's main work for this year: the opinions on legislative tasks proposed by the Third Plenum; a report on key reforms of the economic system and ecological civilization system submitted by sub-leading groups; an implementation plan on the cultural system; opinions on social system reform and the labor distribution plan; and reports on reform progress since January delivered by department heads in fields listed at the central leading group's first meeting.

By the end of February, most provincial authorities had set up their leading groups for deepening reform and clarified work-division plans for local reforms. At least 31 reforms were started at the central government level, out of the 60 key reforms listed by the Third Plenum.

Xi urged the assignment of responsibilities to group leaders and members in order to provide detailed progress schedules and evaluations as soon as possible.

"The purpose of reform is to remove the systemic and institutional obstacles, promote social and economic development and make people's lives better," Xi said.

He has required the central leading group to assign its tasks this year to specific people and departments, to clarify the progress requirements for each task and define how final results will be evaluated.

"All central government departments must comb through the central leading group's reform tasks for this year to find the key points of their work," Xi said. "The authorities should consolidate the ongoing reform achievements, correct errors in a timely fashion and actively create conditions for future reforms."

liyang@chinadaily.com.cn