When elite members of the Chinese Communist party gather for a policy-setting meeting focusing on the rule of law next week, their ranks will be thinned by an obscure party procedure that overrides the law of the land.
下周，中共高层将齐聚一堂，召开十八届四中全会，这次政策制定会议将重点关注如何依法治国。而就在此时，一种不受中国法律制约、对外界而言十分神秘的党内惩戒机制，却在令党员人数不断减少。
The Fourth Plenum opening on Monday is billed as the platform for judicial and other reforms to make the governance of China more rules-based. Expectations range from hopes that Xi Jinping, party chief and China’s president, will force through a fairer legal system with less interference from local vested interests, to scepticism that “rule by law” can be a priority for a regime that has cracked down on political rivals, domestic critics, internet commentators and the press.
根据中共的宣传，下周一开幕的四中全会将着眼于推进中国各项改革，尤其是司法改革，加强依法治国。对这次会议，人们有着不同的预期。一些人期待中共总书记、国家主席习近平能强力推进司法改革，让司法体系更公平、更少受地方既得利益集团的干扰。但也有人怀疑，考虑到中共以往对政治对手、异见人士、网络批评人士和媒体言论的打压，它是否真的会把“法治”摆在最重要位置。
But the delegates who will gather in Beijing already answer to a higher authority – the Communist party, whose rules trump national laws. The party’s extrajudicial power to detain and investigate its own has been in full effect this year, the second of a sweeping crackdown on endemic corruption.
对于那些齐聚北京的党代表来说，在国法之上，他们服从一种更高权威——党纪。中共拥有一种凌驾于司法之上的权力，能够羁押并调查自身成员。今年，随着中国的反贪运动进入第二个年头，这种权力也展现出了最大效力。