The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee convened a key meeting from Monday to Thursday, approving new efforts to strengthen governance of the Party.
The sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee is of crucial importance for the Party, which has over 88 million members, as stricter governance will standardize the Party's political life and strengthen intra-Party supervision, according to experts.
STANDARDIZING POLITICAL LIFE
The session approved a document on norms of political life within the Party under current conditions.
According to the communique issued after the session, self-discipline and strict governance of the Party "must begin with intra-Party political life."
Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said standardized intra-Party political life is fundamental to comprehensive and strict Party governance.
In 1980, the CPC introduced a document outlining the norms of intra-Party political life, targeting serious events in the Party's history, such as the poor implementation of collective leadership, democratic centralism and intra-Party criticism.
However, Xin said that the world, the country and the Party have all sustained tremendous changes during the past three decades, indicating the need for new criteria.
The changes highlight principles such as maintaining close ties with the people, criticism and self criticism, democratic centralism, and intra-Party democracy.
These norms set criteria to address problems plaguing intra-Party political life, such as not taking political life seriously and attempting to form cliques, Xin said.
GUARANTEEING POLITICAL LIFE
The session also touched upon several issues crucial to standardizing political life, stating that intra-Party democracy is fundamental to positive and healthy political life.
Professor Xin said that intra-Party democracy is not well observed in some areas, for example, when certain individuals superimpose their will in the recruitment of key officials, investment decisions and the use of funds.
In order to maintain long-term rule, the CPC must ensure the democratic rights of all members and make sure their voices are heard, Xin added.
The meeting agreed that democratic centralism is the fundamental organizing principle of the Party, an important institutional guarantee in inter-party governance.
Wang Yukai, professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said that many officials had fallen from grace due to an inadequate focus on democratic centralism, as exemplified by their status as singular decision-makers, which had led to power abuse and corruption.
The CPC promised to address election malpractice, putting an end to the buying and selling of official posts and vote rigging, while stressing integrity in promotions.
"The crux of the quest for a clean and healthy intra-Party political environment is selecting officials," Wang said
On the one hand, misbehavior must be curbed and seriously dealt with; on the other hand, officials who dare to take on challenges and responsibilities that others evade should be encouraged, Wang said.
A system should be created that tolerate mistakes made by officials who pursue reform and innovation, Wang added.
