Xi ‘Rule of Law’ Meeting Will Strengthen Communist Party

Communist Party leaders gathering for their plenary session in Beijing next week will focus on one theme: bolstering the rule of law, with distinctly Chinese characteristics.

President Xi Jinping, appointed party chief two years ago, has put legal reforms at the top of his agenda as he seeks to institutionalize his anti-corruption campaign and to follow up on the party’s 2013 pledge of a decisive role for the market in the economy. Yet the end result will be that the party will shore up its pre-eminent position, according to academics who specialize in China’s laws.