Heilongjiang punishes 16 officials over faults in COVID- 19 fight

Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province held 16 officials accountable for being slack in anti- epidemic control work, seen by many as the latest example of China’s increasingly strict accountability mechanism to build strong state governance and Party discipline.

China’s accountability mechanism over official management has shown no sign of slackening despite the COVID- 19 epidemic; instead, the role of officials and cadres has been strengthened since last year in the face of the public health crisis, observers noted.

Of the 16 officials, key officials including Wang Shumi and Zhao Guoli – two deputy heads of Wangkui county, the epicenter of this outbreak, which is administered by the city of Suihua, according to the discipline inspection commission of Suihua, Heilongjiang on Tuesday.

The local commission slammed the 16 officials’ lack of political stance, saying they had been irresponsible and paralyzed in their thoughts. Their “formalism and bureaucracy” in the epidemic prevention and control work had led to a clustered epidemic in the county.

A number of officials across the nation – including city mayors and local health commission directors – have been punished for wrongdoings in the viral fight since last year. Some were accused of drinking alcohol, while others disregarded the sufferings of the people, the Global Times found.

China has built a strict accountability mechanism on Party discipline, which has become quite “prominent” and well- implemented amid the public health crisis as facing a great test full of uncertainties, said Xue Lan, a professor and former dean at the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University in Beijing,.

Xue noted that the trend of imposing a strict accountability mechanism fully displays China’s resolution to build strong state governance and Party discipline.