15 supervisors invited to watchdog's meeting

Fifteen special supervisors were invited to attend the second meeting of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Monday.

The 15 come from different sectors including the staff of central and State departments, cadres at the grassroots level, experts from universities and research institutions, and media representatives.

Last year, 13 special supervisors were invited to attend the Third Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for the first time.

The CCDI issued a document establishing the special supervisor system for the National Supervisory Commission to lead and regulate special supervisors' work in September 2018. It stipulated the qualifications required and the recruitment procedure for special supervisors, as well as their term in office, duties, rights and obligations.

The selection of the special supervisors gives priority to deputies to the National People's Congress. They may also be selected from another seven categories, including members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress National Committee, experts and scholars, and members of the media and art industry.

According to the document, the special supervisors should oversee the disciplinary inspection and supervision organs as well as their personnel's execution of their duties. They should also submit opinions and suggestions for enhancing and improving the discipline inspection and supervision work.

The establishment of the special supervisor system is an important measure to introduce external supervision. Inviting special supervisors to attend the plenary is a concrete manifestation of the top anti-graft organs' effort to create conditions for them to perform their duties, which shows that the disciplinary inspection and supervision organs consciously accept the supervision of all aspects with an open attitude, said a statement from the CCDI and NSC.

Before the reform of China's supervision system, supervisory organs had been inviting special supervisors since 1989. The CCDI also formulated a measure for engaging specially invited supervisors in 2013, and 40 people were invited then.