New regulation highlights morality in official selection

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Wednesday published a revised regulation on principles and procedures of official selection, highlighting officials' morality.

The selection, promotion and appointment of leading officials and cadres for Party and government agencies should be based on both moral integrity and professional competence with priority given to the former, according to the new regulation.

The revised version is issued in lieu of a previous one in 2002.

The regulation also stressed principles including that cadres should be governed by the Party, and that leading officials should be selected from a wide spectrum of people based on their virtue.

The candidates' working performance and public opinion should be taken into account and the selection should be conducted in a democratic, open and competitive manner, the regulation said.

It also emphasized candidates' work experience in grassroots positions.

Exceptional "rocketing promotion" is allowed, but only for officials who are "especially outstanding," the document said, adding that candidates' morality and capability as well as their reputation among the public should also be considered.

Such promotions should be determined with strict standards and should not be granted shortly after a previous promotion, according to the regulation.

It ruled out promotion of "naked officials," or officials whose spouse and children have emigrated overseas.

Also, it said that people with poor reputation among the public, those who have been graded as "incompetent" in annual assessments in the latest three years, as well as officials engaged in positions jockeying or vote canvassing, should not be considered as candidates neither.

According to the regulation, procedures of criticism and self-criticism should be arranged before the appointment is decided.

It further said an obsession with economic growth data as the only benchmark in evaluating a local official's performance should be avoided. Greater emphasis should be put on their achievements in securing a high-quality, effective and sustainable development of economy, people's livelihoods, society, culture, ecological environment and the building of Party organizations.

The performance of candidates in promoting education and culture, social security and public health, as well as their work to advance energy saving, overcapacity reduction, workplace safety and debt control should have greater importance, the document said.

Efforts should also be made to ensure that officials to be promoted are not suspected of corruption or undesirable work styles: formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, according to the regulation.

All promotion proposals should be published to solicit public comments. In the cases of exceptional promotion, the reasons for the promotion must be explained, the regulation said.

Requirements for a specific position should not be candidate-tailored to favor a particular person, and a leading official having served for two consecutive terms in a same position will not be nominated to this post for a third term, it said.

The regulation stipulated that officials who have been held accountable for mistakes and resigned should not be appointed to another post within one year after the resignation, and they will not be promoted to a higher position from their former offices in the ensuing two years.

Furthermore, the document stressed proper supervision over the selection procedures and serious punishment for violations.

The revision of regulation was approved at a meeting of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau last month.