China's top legislature on Wednesday adopted a resolution that Chinese officials elected or appointed by people's congresses above county level and state functionaries appointed by courts and procuratorates at all levels should pledge allegiance to the Constitution. The reform sounds fresh and solemn for ordinary people and is definitely more than a formality.

This reform has caught wide attention from the beginning. Chinese officials at all levels are increasingly aware of their allegiance to the Constitution. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has declared that activities should be conducted within the framework of the Constitution. The rule of the Constitution has been encouragingly pushed forward. China is in a period when the Constitution is being discussed more than at any time in history and this responds to the hope and resolve of society.

However, there are also people saying the latest reform is a mere formality and carries no significance at all. While they often mention the Constitution, their understanding of the rule of the Constitution still deviates from the mainstream and their hopes are not relevant to China's reality.

No one disagrees with the good of the Constitution. But major divergences remain with regard to the definition of the Constitution and to dangerous violations of it.

Some take protecting freedom of speech as the priority and assign all the responsibilities to the authorities. In fact, since reform and opening up in China, all the efforts to ease restrictions on free speech and to embrace technological advances have never been rejected. But they are often abused by some extreme forces to hinder freedom. While China has been promoting freedom of speech and of the press, how to keep China stable and cohesive becomes a question to be addressed.

The biggest challenge to the rule of the Constitution stems from rejection toward the CPC. The Constitution stipulates the CPC's leadership and defines the country's fundamental political system. But certain forces, responding to Western ideology, have set the goal of overthrowing the leadership of the CPC. Many of their words and actions violate the Constitution and have disrupted the public's knowledge of it.

Officials' pledging allegiance to the Constitution, to be implemented on January 1 next year, can be regarded as a public display to the whole of society. Political radicals should ask themselves whether they have obeyed the Constitution and whether they should exercise some restraint in their words and deeds that go against the Constitution.

In any country, a constitution shows a more ideal society than the reality and the mission is to narrow this gap. As China is advancing the rule of law, the CPC is the historic player in this process and any individual or force that intends to undermine the Constitution will be firmly stopped.