Watchdog vows strong enforcement

Inspections will ensure spirit of 19th CPC National Congress is carried out

China’s top anti-graft agency pledged on Saturday to safeguard the position of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, as the core of the Central Committee and the whole Party.

The key to implementing the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress is to safeguard this position and to safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership, said a statement adopted at the second plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which was held from Thursday to Saturday.

Another key is to study and grasp Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and make it the guide in practice and work, the statement said.

“Currently, the fight against corruption remains grave and complex, and the full and strict governance over the Party should not be given up halfway. We must have the resolve and tenacity to persevere in the never-ending fight against corruption,” it said.

The most important task in 2018 is to tighten the Party’s political rules and disciplines, the statement said, calling for better supervision over the political life of the Party and how its policies are being implemented.

Those who are two-faced, disloyal and dishonest to the Party, who comply in public but oppose in private, should be firmly excluded, it said.

In the statement, the CCDI pledged to enhance monitoring

of political life within the Party and inspect how key principles and policies are carried out.

“We’ll place political disciplines of the Party as a top priority, and firmly put the major decisions and deployments made by the CPC Central Committee into practice,” said Liu Xuexin, head of Fujian Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission.

Jiang Jinquan, director of the inspection team stationed with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said his team will investigate cases of political and economic corruption intertwined, those who are disloyal or dishonest to the Party, form cliques for selfish interests or stop at nothing to seek political ambitions.

The statement also pledged to build a supervisory network over all State functionaries, under the Party’s leadership. Efforts should be made to create a highly efficient supervisory mechanism to ensure coordination between discipline inspection and judicial investigation, it said.

The CCDI also will fight corruption in selection and appointment of officials, government approval and supervision, resource exploitation, finance and other key areas prone to corruption.

Corruption that occurs on the people’s doorsteps, especially related to poverty relief, will be better addressed. The fight against corruption at the grassroots level will be combined with that against criminal gangs. The “protection umbrella” behind the gangs will be removed, it said.