China's top anti-graft authority has said that, while disciplining wrongdoers has become a fixture in the fight against corruption, members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with severe violations remain very few.
"Supervision and criticism as pressures to regulate the behavior of officials have become normal, and minor punishments and organizational adjustments are used for many officials," said a communique released after the end of the three-day sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on Thursday.
However, it noted that heavy punishment and major organizational adjustments only affected a minority of officials, and those accused of severe disciplinary and suspected legal violations are only an extreme minority in the Party.
"Organizational adjustments" is a euphemism that often refers to demotion, expulsion from the Party and removal from post.
The communique summarized early warnings and the three-tier punishment system for violations based on their severity as "the four states" that are crucial for the comprehensive and strict management of the CPC.
