42,871 bureaucracy cases probed

▶ CCDI marks 1 year anniversary of ‘eight-point regulation’

A total of 42,871 cases were investigated from January to September for violating Communist Party of China (CPC) rules, the Party disciplinary watchdog reported on its website on Sunday, the first annual anniversary of a detailed working guideline for the “eight-point regulation” against bureaucracy and formalism.

Issued October last year, the guideline was hailed by Chinese experts as a workable direction for officials to reject extravagance, reduce bureaucratic meetings and empty talk in an effort to improve officials’ work style and strengthen ties between people and officials.

The high number of 43,000 individuals within the Party receiving disciplinary punishment since January showed China’s determination to combat corruption, according to the interviewed experts.

The investigated number was high as the Party has strengthened its regulation and punishment is increasingly harsh, Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for Government IntegrityBuilding at Peking University, said on Sunday.

“The occurrence is decreasing year by year, indicating the effectiveness of the regulation,” Zhuang told the Global Times. “But the protracted war against corruption will continue if we take a look at the quantity.”

Extravagant and bureaucratic working styles usually lead to serious corruption and violation of laws, Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Banquets using public funds and gifts frequently happen at holidays and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has exposed 39 typical cases in five special holiday columns and punished 2,000 individuals nationwide since 2018 to warn officials that the regulations are here to stay, the report said Sunday.

Discipline inspection departments have also adopted new methods, with Central China’s Henan Province constructing a big data center of census data, household registration data, real estate data and vehicle data for officials and their relatives, CCDI reported in May.

“Big data has the potential to accurately detect the spending behavior of officials and will definitely help the anti-corruption campaign,” Su said.

Punishment of local officials in the first half of 2018 increased 14.8 percent yearon-year, according to an earlier CCDI report.

Disciplinary inspection departments at city and township levels have more power to pursue violations, Zhuang said.

The “eight-point regulation” should be promoted among the public “for wider recognition and support,” he added.

CCDI published animated slogans from the “eight-point regulation” in December on WeChat.

One sticker said playing golf was forbidden, while another reminded officials they are banned from going to private clubs.

An article introducing the stickers received more than 100,000 reads within hours of publication.