Chinese Top Legislator Li Peng on Thursday pledged to build a socialist democracy, adhere to and improve the legal system.

Li, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, told a special meeting of the South African National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces that China attaches great importance to the work of legislation and has made major progress in this area.

"We are confident that a socialist legal framework with Chinese characteristics as required by the strategy of ruling the country according to law will be well in place by the year 2010," he said.

Li reviewed the legal process in the last two decades and more in China, saying that while pressing ahead with the economic restructuring, China has also taken steps to steadily advance the political restructuring and strengthen democracy and the legal framework.

"We have also set forth the national strategy of running the country according to law and building a socialist country based on the rule of law," he said.

Li said that since 1979, China has enacted or made over 360 laws or law- related decisions, on top of which over 800 national administrative regulations and over 7,000 local laws and regulations have been introduced.

Generally speaking, all the main aspects of the state and social life in China are now covered and regulated by law, he said.

"We emphasize that legislation should take into consideration major policy decisions on reform and development, and fully reflect the will and desire of the people. In the meantime, we also draw on the law-making experience and legislative achievements of other countries," he said.

"To sum up, a socialist legal framework based on the single most important law, the constitution, has taken initial shape in China," Li said.

In china, democracy and the legal system are developed in a way that best suits China's conditions, Li said.

Li arrived here on Wednesday from Mauritius on a six-day visit to South Africa, the second leg of his six-nation Afro-Asian tour that will also take him to Kenya, Israel, Palestine and Oman.