China will launch fiercer crackdown on human rights lawyers, a veteran commentator warned, as President Xi Jinping slammed some legal practitioners for having “low political awareness” and dismissed the practice of judicial independence in a newly revealed speech.

“The rule of law never exists in China, so this is not even a regression,” said human rights lawyer Ren Quanniu, whose law firm was frequently inspected by the Chinese Communist Party members last year.

Xi mentioned the “legal team” in the country at a Beijing conference of the central leadership on Nov. 16 last year. His remarks were only made public last Sunday, saying that individual lawyers “have low political awareness, and even maliciously attacked the country’s political and legal systems.”

He stressed that legal practitioners should uphold the party’s leadership and the socialist rule of law. They should also turn their back on the “separation of powers” and “judicial independence” as practiced in the West, the president added.

Veteran commentator Sang Pu said Xi’s remarks foreshadow a fiercer crackdown on human rights lawyers across the country. His speech also laid bare the CCP’s dictatorship, marking “an escalation of barbarity,” he added.

The emphasis on lawyers’ loyalty to the party also showed that future court cases filed against government bodies will be impossible to win and the plaintiffs may even face arrests, said Sang.

Ren said Xi’s speech indicated how the 709 crackdown – the nationwide crackdown on Chinese lawyers and human rights activists in 2015 – was an order from the top level of the party.

Ren’s law firm was frequently visited and inspected by CCP members last year, whose purpose was to oblige his staff to attend “political learning” classes. National security agents also warned Ren not to comment on issues about the CCP as those were the red lines.

Earlier this year, the authorities revoked the practicing license of Ren, who represented one of the 12 Hongkongers caught by mainland coastguards when they attempted to flee to Taiwan in August last year.

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