Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, told the ongoing Fourth Session of the 11th NPC on Thursday that a legal system with Chinese characteristics has been established in China.

The legal system is based on China's national conditions and made up of the Constitution, laws and administrative regulations of the central and local governments.

China now has a complete set of laws covering all areas of social relations together with comprehensive corresponding administrative regulations and local statutes. Overall, the system of laws is scientific, harmonious and consistent and is of great significance to China's drive to build a country ruled by law.

Rule of law remains a primary target for the government to manage the country's social, economic and cultural affairs in accordance with the nation's Constitution and legal code, a strategy confirmed by the 15th National Party Congress, held in 1997.

To promote the rule of law, the country needs a well-developed legal system in which everything has a legal basis and citizens enjoy full human rights and can be the masters of their own country. The key to achieving this target is that the principle of rule of law is adhered to under the framework of the country's Constitution and legal code and that public power be subject to an effective monitoring mechanism.

As an important step toward attaining this goal, government officials should exercise their power according to the law, so as to gradually promote the systematization and legalization of a socialist democracy in the world's most populous nation.

The principles of democracy, freedom, human rights, equity, justice and the rule of law have been established under the current legal system and relevant legislation has been put in place to ensure that all people are equal before law. These provide an important legal guarantee for the cultivation of a legal consciousness among all citizens.