The Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) met
in October 2014 with ‘rule of law’ as its central theme. This followed General
Secretary Xi Jinping’s (2013) explanation of the Decision of the CPC Central
Committee on deepening reform that had made it clear that China will continue
to prioritize ‘economic reforms’. In keeping with past pronouncements, there is
also the familiar insistence on the CPC’s leading role, with Western notions of
judicial independence and separation of powers rejected. This book interprets the
meanings and directions of China’s deepening socialist rule of law and questions
whether success on the economic front may lay the groundwork for more ambitious
legal, social and political reform to come. It further questions whether
ongoing economic success can be sustainable without the required legal, social
and political reforms.