The press center for the 20th CPC National Congress hosts the press conference on the topic "Under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, Strive to Build Higher-Standard Rule of Law in China" on October 19, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese law enforcement agencies have invested great efforts to defend the public order and national security by cracking down on activities launched by hostile forces and they have achieved remarkable achievements since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), an official with the Ministry of Public Security revealed at a Wednesday press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th CPC National Congress.

The Press Center for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its third press conference on Wednesday with the topic of "Under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, Strive to Build Higher-Standard Rule of Law in China."

The conference was led by senior officials from the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice, via video link with Chinese and foreign journalists. 

Yin Bai, deputy secretary-general of the Commission of Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, said at the press conference that "The rule of law system with Chinese characteristics is being built with more progress under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law."

Xu Ganlu, vice minister of public security and also a member of the CPC committee of the Ministry of Public Security, introduced the achievements in past 10 years in safeguarding the public order and national security. 

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, public security organs across the country have paid great efforts to defend China from sabotage, interruption, subversion and infiltration launched by hostile forces, and strictly crack down on these activities with law-enforcement, and also strike against criminal activities that harm the people's safety, lives and property, Xu remarked.

Li Wei, an expert on national security at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that hostile forces, in general, are internal and external forces who oppose and challenge the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the leadership of the CPC, the socialist political system of China and the reunification of China, "as well as those who try to separate the country and pose threats to China's national security."

With the leadership of the CPC, China's achievements in fighting hostile forces are remarkable. "With domestic law-enforcement and international cooperation on counterterrorism, China has successfully contained and cracked down on terrorist and separatist activities in Xinjiang since 2017. In Hong Kong, with the national security legislation and other efforts, the damage of the 2019 turmoil has been recovered step by step and public order and stability have been restored, and the intervention made by foreign forces has been effectively cut off," said Li.

"The rule of law is aimed to protect people's basic rights. A very important point in promoting human rights is to use the law to more effectively to protect the rights of citizens," said Yang Xuedong, a professor of political science at Tsinghua University.

"Modernization should be aimed to lift the level of livelihood of the people. From this perspective, rule of law is a vital guarantee to protect people's basic human rights," Yang noted.