Leaders to target more 'tigers and flies' over next 5 years
The 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its Eighth Plenary Session on Monday, highlighting a resolution to carry on the anti-graft drive in the next five years, experts said.
Participants on Monday discussed and approved a work report to be submitted by the commission to the 19th CPC National Congress, scheduled to open on October 18. [Special coverage]
The report will also be submitted to the 7th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee for discussion on October 11, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Wang Qishan, CCDI secretary and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, addressed the Monday meeting.
"China's anti-graft drive has achieved much in the five years since 2012, causing the downfall of many high-level officials. It is the biggest, most effective and influential anti-corruption drive ever," Su Wei, a professor at the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee's Party School, told the Global Times Monday.
In the next five years, the commission won't change its target - both high-flying "tigers" and low-level "flies," Su said. More details will be added to the system to fight corruption, he noted, as many guidelines only have a basic structure.
Some 1.34 million township-level officials and 648,000 Party members and rural officials have been punished, according to the commission.
By the end of August, 3,339 fugitives were captured from more than 90 countries and regions, with 628 being former officials, Xinhua reported, citing CCDI.
"Corruption eroded the Party's image and affected Party members, officials and even the army before 2012, and the anti-corruption drive at the 18th CPC National Congress became the turning point," Su said.
"The anti-graft drive in China continues to gain momentum and win praise from the public," CCDI posted on its website Saturday.
A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics showed 92.9 percent of people were satisfied with the anti-corruption drive in 2016, 17.9 percentage points higher than in 2012.
Supervisory system
Su also noted that the CCDI will probably introduce a nationwide supervisory system reform this year. The reform was first introduced in 2016 and piloted in Beijing, Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces in an effort to institutionalize the anti-corruption fight.
China aims to establish a national supervisory commission and draft a national supervision law.
The reform will fundamentally help prevent corruption, Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times.
"It will not only keep an eye on officials at all levels - province, city and county - but also the National People's Congress and public security organs. Thus, it will prompt overall CPC self-discipline," Zhi said.
Fighting corruption is essential for the CPC to retain its leadership and safeguard the achievements of reform and opening-up, Zhi said.
The CPC has also rolled out guidelines and rules to prevent corruption.
Su said that the intense drive has already deterred officials, with a decreasing number of corruption cases over the years. The commission has extended its anti-graft inspection nationwide from Party members and officials to State-owned institutions and universities.
The CPC came up with an eight-point code on austerity in 2012 to discourage undesirable work practices. By the end of 2016, 155,300 violations of the code had been investigated, according to the Xinhua report.
Among the violations, 78.2 percent took place in 2013 and 2014, 15.1 percent took place in 2015, and 6.7 percent in 2016.
"Those guidelines have formed a preliminary system to cage power and prevent corruption," Su said.
