Understanding China's Two Constitutions: Re-Assessing the Role of the Chinese Communist Party

Abstract

The relationship between the Party Constitution and the State Constitution is the most important question pertaining China’s legal development today. This essay situates the question within the larger problem of the relation between Party and law. By drawing from Chinese scholars of political constitutionalism, the author attempts to re-assess the role of the Party as the principle driver of constitutionalism with Chinese characteristics. The fundament of this relationship is the CCP’s transcendence of politics and practical and theoretical unity with China. Based on this analysis, it is further suggested that intra-Party rules and regulations play a major role as a testing ground for future laws.

Keywords: Chinese Communist Party, Constitutionalism, intra-Party regulations, China, Party Constitution, State Constitution