Ideological education should be primary task
China is using confessions of corrupt senior officials as a warning to civil servants to be mindful of corrupt practices.
A notice released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee says the CPC has asked all Party members to regularly study the CPC constitution, and that the confessions of officials who have severely violated the law and Party discipline should be used as teaching material.
"The previous educations of Party members emphasize positive guidance. Confessions of corrupt officials would serve as a warning to violators and other Party members," Xu Xing, a professor of politics at the Zhou Enlai School of Government of Nankai University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
The notice also mentioned that Party members tasked to question officials should share the details at democratic intra-Party meetings, and violators should reflect deeply.
Xu also said that exposing corruption cases in the media and releasing corrupt officials' introspections as well as essays on the theme would help maintain the high-handed posture to fight corruption in society.
A TV drama, In the Name of People, whose backdrop is the central government's recent crackdown on corruption featuring a national-level official as the antagonist, has been dubbed by Chinese media as "the country's most daring TV series on anti-graft." The drama is sponsored by the TV and Film Production Center under the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), and debuted on Hunan Satellite TV on Tuesday.
An eight-part documentary that features the confessions of corrupt officials was aired in October 2016, sparking discussions on Chinese social media. It was jointly produced by the Publicity Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and China Central Television (CCTV), and shows footage from the trials of some former senior officials.
Meanwhile, the notice said Party committees at all levels should institutionalize studies on "Two Studies, One Action," make ideological education of Party members "the primary task" and regulate members' actions in accordance with the CPC constitution and relevant rules," read the notice.
The CPC General Office launched a new education campaign in February 2016 called "Study the Party Constitution and Party Regulations, Study its Speech Series, Be a Qualified Party Member," also known as the "Two Studies, One Action" plan to foster solidarity and educate all Party members to act in accordance with the disciplines.
'Two Studies, One Action'
The notice also requires Party committees to regularly organize collective learning sessions, urges members to attend Party meetings and make committee heads speak to grass-roots CPC members at least once.
"The main content of the courses should be the Party constitution, relevant rules and Xi Jinping's speeches," read the notice.
"Putting greater emphasis on the 'Two Studies and One Action' among grass-roots Party committees also relates to the task of the anti-graft campaign in the new phase - less on tigers with severe violations of discipline and more flawed officials emerged," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Chongqing Committee, told the Global Times.
Su said that stressing education on building a clean Party is an important part of comprehensively strengthening Party discipline, which also helps fight "flies" at the grass-roots level.
Organizing such studies will be used as an important performance evaluation criterion for the heads of CPC committees, and those who are found to have been remiss in their job may be punished or otherwise held accountable, according to the notice.
"Corrupt officials at the grass-roots level have a more serious impact on people's lives, while a stronger and cleaner Party committee would help implement resolutions and push forward reforms," said Xu.
