Shock 'tigers' and awe 'flies'

However, preventative mechanisms are at the heart of the plan. The document outlines a far-ranging network of methods and measures aimed at limiting the space for corruption, embodying a shift in approach from mainly focusing on punishing corrupt officials to focusing on building a comprehensive anti-corruption framework. Putting in place a full-fledged anti-corruption system will reduce the opportunities for officials to be tempted and deter officials from giving in to the temptation when they are. To this end, the document stresses, an extensive supervisory mechanism, including Internet and intra-Party supervision, will be set up and strengthened.

The document also calls for an improved legal system - and measures to ensure judicial independence - to ensure the effective implementation of various anti-decadence regulations, including those concerning the use of public vehicles, the construction of office compounds, business receptions and overseas trips. Putting this into effect will improve the image of both the government and Party and increase judicial openness.

At the same time, the Party itself has been promoting inner-Party regulations against corruption, and the document sets forth the demand that officials at ministerial and provincial levels will have to submit an annual clean-governance report to the central authorities, a requirement that marks a bigger step toward preventing corruption among the country's senior officials. Unrestrained power usually leads to abuse of power and corruption. A clean-governance reporting system and tightened accountability for malpractices will thus serve as an effective way of imposing more restraints and supervision on the power of major leading officials.

Another initiative mentioned in the document is setting up a sound system for senior officials to report their personal affairs and properties, including measures to make public necessary information of newly nominated leaders' families. The initiative, raised by the Party's top anti-graft watchdog and expected to be exercised on a trial basis first, will be putting officials' public-related affairs under sunlight. State-owned enterprises and financial organizations will also be placed under inquisition and responsibility systems.

The establishment of an open and transparent property information disclosure system is widely believed to be an effective way to prevent and deter corruption, and greater transparency should also be exercised in Party, government and judicial affairs, especially government budgets, large projects and public undertakings.

Administrative supervision will include the overseeing of senior-level departments and auditing procedures, and officials should be put under the watchful eyes of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, various political parties other than the CPC, business federations and trade unions. Moreover, the guideline also encourages public supervision, especially through the Internet.

Corruption is a widely reviled social sin. The newly published five-year plan undoubtedly marks the ruling Party's new and upgraded efforts to cure and eradicate this long intractable issue. Inspiringly, the leadership has dealt a heavy blow against corrupt officials over the past year, and taken substantial steps toward restraining power through legislation and building systems and strengthening Party and public supervision.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily.

wuyixue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/27/2013 page8)