Nothing is off-limits in the Party’s anti-graft efforts – Shanghai Daily (subscription)

AS the 96-year-old Communist Party of China (CPC) prepares to hold its 19th national congress later this year, the world is watching how the long-ruling party will remain vigorous in the future.

In fact, the CPCs efforts in self-reform since its 18th national congress held five years ago have provided answers to that question.

Xi Jinping, who took office as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012, has led the efforts to fight corruption, calling on the whole Party to stay fully alert and describing corruption as a threat to the Partys very survival.

Nothing is off-limits in the anti-corruption efforts, and zero tolerance has been shown toward corruption, Xi said at the seventh plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) earlier this year.

On December 4, 2012, the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee convened a meeting to deliberate on the eight-point frugality code to address si feng, or four forms of decadence formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.

According to the CCDI, as of the end of May, a total of 170,400 violations against the eight-point frugality code had been investigated across the country, with 231,100 people punished, including 20 ministerial-level Party officials.

Yang Xiaodu, deputy secretary of the CCDI, said, The tests we are facing now are no less challenging than those in war times, only in different forms. If our Party members cant resist the risks of corruption, they could end up using power for illegitimate purposes.

On April 19, 2013, the Politburo decided to launch education activities within the Party.

The three stricts and three earnests campaign, advanced by Xi in 2014, urges officials to be strict in morals, power and self-discipline, and to be honest in decisions, business and behavior.

The Party also advanced a campaign for members at all levels to study the theoretical and practical issues of Party building in an effort to strengthen ideology and Communist beliefs while serving the people.

The Party has shown hardened resolve in the fight against corruption when the Central Committee decided to investigate and punish senior officials for discipline violations, including Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua and Su Rong.

The Party not only exercises self-discipline within the country, but also reaches abroad to hunt down fugitives.

Yang Xiuzhu, who was once number one on the list of Chinas top 100 fugitives released in an Interpol red notice, turned herself in to the country in November 2016 after 13 years on the run.

So far, over 40 fugitives on the Interpol red list have either voluntarily returned or been extradited to China, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

In November 2013, the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee required innovation in the disciplinary inspection system, focusing on problems related to corruption, Party rules and regulations as well as the Partys leadership.

The CPC has carried out inspection work covering CPC organizations in provincial-level regions, central CPC and government organs and major state-owned enterprises, according to Li Xiaohong, an official with the central inspection group.

According to the CCDI, from 2012 to the end of 2016, 240 centrally administered officials were investigated, with 223 receiving punishments. A total of 57,000 Party members took the initiative to confess to their wrongdoings in 2016.

Meanwhile, the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee, the top legislature, approved a pilot reform program to establish an integrated supervision system that will see the establishment of local supervisory commissions at three levels province, city and county.

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Nothing is off-limits in the Party's anti-graft efforts - Shanghai Daily (subscription)