Chengdu's deputy Party chief investigated

Li Kunxue, deputy Party chief of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, has been placed under investigation, according to the provincial anti-graft authority.

Li is said to have "violated Party discipline", a phrase that usually refers to corruption. The provincial Discipline Inspection Commission released no further details.

Li, who was born in 1961, has spent most of his career working in local governments in Sichuan.

He was appointed as the secretary-general of the Chengdu city Party committee in April 2001 and became the city's police chief and head of the legal affairs committee in April 2008.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-graft authority, is looking at a wider range of misconduct among public officials as it steps up efforts to root out corruption and misconduct in the Party and the government.

Last month, seven officials at or above ministerial level were disciplined among 67 officials who were found to be involved in corruption, according to a report in Legal Daily.

Among them, 22 remain under investigation by anti-graft authorities, 41 have been expelled from the Party and the rest have been punished with disciplinary measures.

Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the department of clean governance at Peking University, was cited by Legal Daily as saying that the charges against Party officials and government functionaries were becoming more specific, demonstrating an adherence to the rule of law.

For those severely violating Party rules and breaking laws, criminal law should be applied in addition to punishment under the Party rules, he said.

Su Shulin, 53, the governor of Fujian province, was placed under investigation on corruption charges last month.

He was the first incumbent governor to be investigated since the 18th Party Congress in 2012 when the anti-graft campaign began.

In October, also in Fujian province, four lower-ranking officials were given minor punishments, such as demotion, for violating Party rules.

The list of offenses for which officials can be disciplined has been extended since the beginning of this year.

They include making public speeches criticizing the Party's policy of clean governance, forging personal records and turning a blind eye to the misbehavior of family members.

Zhu Lijia, a professor of public policy at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the anti-corruption drive now included more instances of misbehavior. Using demotion as a punishment will become a more regular means of disciplining officials, Zhu said.