The CCP CC's Comprehensive Rule of Law Work Conference was held on November 16 - 17, 2020 in Beijing where CCP CC General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an "important" speech emphasising that China will unswervingly follow the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities on the track of the rule of law, so as to provide a powerful force for building a modern socialist country and realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. China's official media said that Xi Jinping's speech had sparked "heated discussions in the legal field" and scholars who were interviewed had said it is necessary to comprehensively and accurately learn and understand Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, continuously enhance the "four consciousnesses", strengthen the "four confidences", and resolutely achieve the "two safeguards." The People's Daily published (November 23) a front-page commentary on Xi Jinping's Rule of Law while Guangming Daily and CCTV also publicised it. 

In a lengthy article published in China Social Science News on November 23, Li Lin, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Researcher at the Institute of Law, said that the Central Committee's Comprehensive Rule of Law Work Conference held in November 2020, had formally proposed the "Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law". He described the 'Rule of Law' as having "profound political and legal value". He summarised its "core" meaning as follows: (i) Adhering to the party's leadership of comprehensively governing the country by law is an essential feature and inherent requirement of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics: The party leads everything in party, government, military and civilian studies, east, west, south, north and middle. The leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the most fundamental guarantee of the socialist rule of law, and the soul of the socialist rule of law. Fully governing the country according to law does not mean to weaken the party's leadership, but to strengthen and improve the party's leadership, continuously improve the party's leadership's ability and level of governing the country by law and consolidate the party's ruling position. (ii)Persisting in putting the people at the center is the source of strength for comprehensively advancing the rule of law: The people are the masters of the country and the main body governing the country according to law. A happy life for the people is the greatest human right. It is necessary to ensure that all citizens enjoy a wide range of rights in accordance with the law, protect citizens' personal rights, property rights, basic political rights and other rights from infringement, ensure that citizens' economic, cultural, and social rights are implemented, and continuously enhance the people's sense of gain. A sense of happiness, security, and legality ensure that people live and work in peace and contentment. Fairness and justice is the noble value pursued by our party. (iii)Adhering to the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is the development path and correct direction for comprehensively advancing the rule of law: The road determines fate, and the road determines the future. The socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is essentially the concrete embodiment of the socialist road with Chinese characteristics in the field of rule of law. To fully promote the rule of law, do "not follow the old road of isolation and rigidity, nor the evil road of changing the flag". "The road will lay a solid foundation for the rule of law for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country and the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We must learn from the useful achievements of human civilization and rule of law, but we must never copy other countries' models and practices and must not follow the path of Western "constitutionalism", "three powers" and "judicial independence." (iv) Persisting in governing the country in accordance with the constitution and governing the country in accordance with the constitution is the focus of work in comprehensively advancing the rule of law: The Constitution is the fundamental law of the country, the general constitution for governing the country and the country, and the concentrated expression of the will of the party and the people. The party leads the people to formulate the constitution and laws and leads the people to implement the constitution and laws. The party itself must act within the scope of the constitution and laws. It is necessary to uphold the leadership position of the Communist Party of China as determined by the constitution and the state system of people's democratic dictatorship and the system of people's congress as determined by the constitution, strengthen the implementation and supervision of the constitution, promote the work of constitutional review, and maintain the authority of the constitution. (v) Persevering in building a socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics is the development goal and overall focus of comprehensively advancing the rule of law: Give full play to the complementary roles of governing the country according to law and governing the party according to regulations, and ensure that the party governs the country and governs the party in accordance with the constitution and law, and governs the party and strictly governs the party in accordance with internal party regulations. (vi) Persisting in the overall promotion of the domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law is an inevitable requirement for building a strong country under the rule of law: The rule of law is the country’s prosperity, and the rule of law is the country’s strength. In the face of major changes unseen in the world in a century, we must coordinate the development of the domestic rule of law and the construction of foreign-related rule of law, actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system, strengthen the construction of the foreign-related rule of law system, strengthen the application of international law, and maintain the international system with the United Nations as the core and the international order based on international law will jointly respond to global challenges. China is going to the world and participating in international affairs as a responsible great power. It must be good at applying the rule of law, strengthen international cooperation in the rule of law, promote the reform of the global governance system, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. (vii) Persisting in grasping the "critical minority" of leading cadres is a key issue for comprehensively advancing the rule of law: Leading cadres' specific exercise of the party's ruling power and national legislative, administrative, supervisory, and judicial powers is the key to comprehensively governing the country according to law. To comprehensively promote the rule of law, we must seize the "key minority" of leading cadres, and continuously improve their ability to use rule of law thinking and methods to deepen reform, promote development, resolve contradictions, and maintain stability, and require them to be models of respecting law and law-abiding usage.