China shows resolution in renewed fight against graft

BEIJING -- While China is gaining ground to overcome corruption, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has demonstrated its unswerving will to continue the fight against corruption and ensure clean governance.

Over the past three years, the CPC has been working hard to redress the problem of being too lenient in managing the Party, and has striven to build a system where officials "do not dare, are not able, and are unwilling to be corrupt."

The efforts are paying off, said Xi Jinping, Chinese president and general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at the start of the three-day sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on Tuesday.

Xi called on all Party members to "maintain confidence in the CPC Central Committee's anti-corruption volition, the campaign's achievements, the positive energy it brings and the prospects of our fight against corruption."

Gao Bo, a political researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes the CPC is on the right path to advance the clean governance campaign and to comprehensively and strictly govern the Party.

The achievements of the campaign to fight corruption and promote frugality over the past three years prove that the CPC is capable of making changes to overcome corruption, he said.

In 2015, more than 40 centrally administered officials were expelled from the CPC for violating the Party's code of conduct. Over 90,000 officials nationwide have been punished for corruption or violations of the Party's frugality rules.

"In addition to the growing number of corrupt officials being punished, the CPC's anti-corruption drive is making progress in redressing the root of the problem," he said.

Zhuang Deshui, vice director of the clean government research center at Peking University, said Xi's remarks at Tuesday's meeting have forcefully refuted doubts that the anti-corruption campaign in China may stall or be distracted.

Xi stressed during the meeting that the CPC Central Committee remains determined to combat corruption and its goal to resolutely contain the problem remains unchanged.

With the efforts over the last three years, fighting corruption has become the firm consensus among Chinese society, gaining unstoppable momentum, Zhuang said.

New measures by the Party to further the drive and new achievements can be expected, he said.

Reiterating the anti-corruption stance has consolidated the confidence and minds of CPC members, as the situation facing the anti-graft campaign is still grave and requires unrelenting efforts, said Zhang Li, a CCDI member and local discipline official in Inner Mongolia.

Gao said that the anti-corruption campaign is a "special window" that reveals the new experiences and approaches in the CPC's governance over the past three years.

The firm stance of the Party to carry on the anti-corruption fight also indicates that the new approaches and achievements have been recognized by the Party and society, he added.

With concrete measures to build Party integrity, promote clean governance, and fight corruption, the CPC is taking the initiative in this cause, said Liu Jincheng, a clean governance researcher with the China University of Mining and Technology.

Liu noted that with measures to promote and enforce the Party's code of conduct, improve Party officials' work styles and tighten intra-Party regulations, the CPC is rolling out a systemic strategy for strictly and comprehensively governing the Party.