Mass line campaign concludes

162,629 'phantom staff' cut from government payroll

Top Party leaders gathered Wednesday to mark the end of the 16-month-long mass line campaign, which aimed to boost the public's confidence in the Communist Party of China (CPC), while analysts expressed hopes for a more institutionalized mechanism for the long-term fight against undesirable work styles.

The high-profile teleconference was attended by all seven members of the Party's top decision-making body, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. It was live broadcast to officials who work for government institutions above the county level and military officers who are above the regiment level.

The mass line campaign was carried out between June 2013 and September 2014 to boost ties between CPC officials and the public, while focusing on cleaning up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

Addressing the conference, Xi vowed to make the campaign a start for stricter Party discipline.

A commentary in the People's Daily Wednesday compared the campaign to the Long March (1934-36), which allowed the Party's Red Army to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang Party. The commentary noted that both the campaign and the Long March indicated that the Party's development relies on the people.

Experts also spoke highly of the mass line campaign as it helped boost efforts in cracking down on corruption and rebuilding the image of a clean government.

Zhang Xixian, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times that corruption and bureaucratic work styles have increased tension in ties between the Party and the people since the country's reform and opening-up.

"The Party authority has realized that its leadership could be endangered if it does not take effective measures to correct those wrongdoings," Zhang said.

During the campaign, China removed 162,629 "phantom staff" from the government payroll who had been collecting salaries without working, and confiscated 114,418 vehicles of inappropriate models being used for regular government affairs, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

More than 74,000 Party members and officials have been punished for violating rules against pomp and extravagance. Nearly 8,200 people were punished for using public money to give gifts, and pay for dining, drinking and entertainment activities.

More than a dozen ministerial-level officials have been investigated for suspected corruption.

The effective investigation and harsh punishments for corrupt officials are highlights in the mass line campaign, Zhang said. "It gives confidence to the people that the Party is determined to renew its clean governance image. Meanwhile, it severely warns other Party members to stay away from bribes as well as help 'lock their power in cages.'"

Xu Yaotong, a professor with the Department of Research at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times that some Party members at government institutions have gotten used to wasting public funds or taking bribes from the public before providing services. "The mass line campaign came in time and put in effort to change officials' minds."

Expenditure of public funds on government vehicles, officials' overseas trips and official receptions were also reduced by 53 billion yuan ($8.6 billion), or 27.5 percent over the past year.

Although the mass line campaign has concluded, observers said that such a drive to tighten Party discipline should be normalized and become institutionalized in the future.

"The campaign is not enough to tackle all wrongdoings and change officials' minds completely," Zhang said, warning some officials may go back to their previous work styles.

In fact, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC Central Committee said in an article in January that innovation of the system should be the key to building desirable work styles, and legal and systematic means should be introduced to consolidate the campaign's achievements.

Xu also indicated that the campaign still needs to be improved, as the public did not get involved enough as the current mass line campaign mainly focused on promoting officials' self-examination and authorities' investigations.

More effective mechanisms need to be built to address people's complaints to officials and tackle their problems, Xu said.