Xi urges greater anti-graft efforts to improve Party
President Xi Jinping on Thursday urged the Communist Party of China (CPC) to “fully implement the spirit of the 19th Party Congress” and called for more anti-corruption efforts to “fundamentally improve the political ecosystem of the Party.” Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at the
second plenary session of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC, which opened on Thursday. He also called for heroism and resolve to cope with the complexities the Party faces in governing the nation.
The meeting comes at a significant point because this year will see the adoption of national anti-corruption legislation, and it takes place on the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of Peking University’s Research Center for Government Integrity-Building, told the Global Times Thursday.
Zhuang noted that the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress’ instruction to fight corruption will be fully and carefully implemented this year with the opening of this meeting.
Safeguarding the authority of the CPC Central Committee and under its centralized and unified leadership, the CPC should develop itself into a vigorous Marxist ruling party that is always riding with the trend, supported by the people, brave in self-reform and survives all challenges and hardships, Xi said.
During last October’s 19th CPC National Congress, Xi called corruption “the greatest threat” to the Party, and that the fight against corruption never ends and that corruption remains grave and complex.
Further steps will be taken to ensure comprehensive and strict discipline over the Party and more policies will be issued not only to prevent officials from accepting bribes but also to forbid them from engaging in unhealthy activities, such as bureaucratism and hedonism, Su Wei, a professor at the CPC Chongqing Committee’s Party School, told the Global Times.
Experts said the institutionalization of the anti-corruption campaign and the reform of the supervision system should be the main focus.
As the reform of the supervision system deepens, a more centralized and effective national supervisory system will take shape, which unifies inner Party supervision, administrative supervision and the public to construct an institution to fight corruption,” Su said.
Comprehensive crackdown
Fifty-eight officials at the ministerial level or higher were punished for discipline violations in 2017, the CCDI announced Thursday. It added that Party discipline inspection agencies punished 527,000 people in 2017, ranging from warnings and demotions to expulsion from the Party and removal from office.
Cracking down on corrupt grass-roots officials is also important because their poor behavior causes a more direct impact on people’s lives, Su said. They were involved in 122,100 cases, of which 48,700 were related to poverty alleviation work, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.
A recent public opinion poll in 2017 showed that 93.9 percent were satisfied with the Party’s anti-graft work, up from 2012’s 75 percent.
Zhuang said this year’s anti-corruption campaign will continue to focus on “taking out tigers and swatting flies.”
The investigation of high-level officials at the beginning of the year highlights the government’s firm determination to further strengthen the anti-corruption campaign, he said.
Fang Fenghui, a member of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) and former chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, had been transferred to the military prosecution authority on Tuesday for suspected bribery, Xinhua reported.