Eight-point decision on Party conduct marks 10th anniversary

▶ Rules lead to stricter self-governance, purer society

It has been 10 years since the eightpoint decision on work conduct was formulated and implemented after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012. More than 760,000 violations have been dealt with and more than 200 senior officials have been punished, which Chinese anti-graft experts believed marked achievements in the CPC’s stricter self-governance and building a purer society.

According to data released on November 27 by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC and the State Supervision Commission, 7,558 cases in violation of the eight-point rules were investigated and punished in October, including 4,093 cases related to hedonism and extravagance.

The eight-point code is not a fiveyear or ten-year rule, but a long-term and effective iron rule, Xiao Pei, deputy head of the CCDI of the CPC and deputy head of the National Supervisory Commission, revealed in October.

The rules reflect the spirit of doing one thing well before doing another, so that everyone can feel that the Party and the government can do things well and that they are serious about their work, said Liu Junjie, a researcher of the Contemporary Political Party Research Platform.

Over the past decade, the eightpoint decision on improving Party’s work conduct has put an end to many unhealthy tendencies and become the basic principle of Party members. The thought of privilege has been weakened and the political atmosphere has quietly changed, Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for Government

Integrity-Building at Peking University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Corruption in eating, drinking and so on are the problems that we focused on in the first stage. In the second stage, we are focusing on the problems of formalism and bureaucracy, including reducing the burden on the grassroots-level officials and allowing them to spend more time and energy on helping the public. In the third stage, we need to oppose mindsets and acts of privilege seeking. Only by addressing the root causes of this problem can we truly make the people feel the fruits of selfreform, Zhuang said.

According to the recently released data, 3,465 cases of formalism and bureaucracy were investigated and dealt with nationwide, and a strong signal was released that formalism and bureaucracy shall be tackled to the end and resolutely corrected.