China would never take the path of constitutional politics, separation of powers or judicial independence as practiced in the West, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, according to a Communist Party publication.

Xi stressed that authorities would go all out to implement socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics in governing the country, the Qiushi journal reported.

The president’s remarks were made in a Nov. 16 speech delivered at a Beijing conference of the central leadership that discussed the work of comprehensively implementing law-based governance. Qiushi, the flagship magazine of the party’s Central Committee, revealed more details of his speech in its latest issue, published on Sunday.

At the meeting, Xi took the rare step of referring to lawyers in China, describing them as an important force in ruling the country by law. “This is a good team, but it has a number of problems.”

He went on to criticize some of the lawyers for having “weak political awareness and even maliciously attacking our country’s political and legal systems.”

It should be a basic requirement of a lawyer to uphold the party’s leadership and the socialist rule of law. Education, management and guidance should be strengthened to ensure legal practitioners were on the right political track, Xi said.

He called for reform and development in law schools to improve the quality of legal talent and, in particular, legal education in foreign law and international organizations.

The Chinese state leader also upheld the party’s leadership over the rule of law. He emphasized that rule of law existed to improve and strengthen the party’s rule. The two concepts were not in conflict, he said, and the question of whether the party or the law was more powerful was a political trap.

China has been tightening its grip on human rights lawyers. Most recently, Lu Siwei and Ren Quanniu, two Chinese lawyers who assisted families of 12 Hong Kong activists arrested at sea, were stripped of their licenses on Jan. 13 and early February respectively.

Legal firms in mainland China are stepping up efforts to boost the work of the party. Figures from the Chinese National Bar Association showed that up to June last year, more than 130,000 practicing lawyers were members of the party, while 6,000 party-building instructors were deployed to law firms that did not have party members.

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