China's top graft buster has called for persistent anti-corruption effort to clean up the Communist Party of China (CPC) and boost the people's trust in the Party.
Anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan's remarks came days before the opening this week of the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), showing the authorities' resolve to keep up the pressure on corruption in the new year.
The country's anti-graft watchdog has ousted corrupt officials all the way from low-level "flies" to high-ranking "tigers" since the current leadership took office in late 2012 and declared a tough graft crackdown.
According to the CCDI, 37 centrally-administered officials, including former Party chief of north China's Hebei Province Zhou Benshun, were investigated by the agency in 2015.
Meanwhile, local anti-graft bodies have been detecting low-level bureaucrats guilty of embezzlement of public funds, use of public funds for banquets, accepting bribes and holding lavish banquets.
Besides the crackdown on "tigers" and "flies," the graft watchdog has been busy hunting "foxes," or corrupt officials hiding out abroad. China has concluded dozens of extradition treaties with other countries.
More than 850 fugitives suspected of economic crimes have been returned from nearly 70 countries as a result of the transnational operation, with 1.2 billion yuan (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) recovered by police.
The graft crackdown is a long-lasting fight. Although remarkable results have been achieved, the fight is far from over. The leadership has been pushing a permanent mechanism to limit power and curb corruption.
In an effort to institutionalize the anti-graft drive, the CPC authorities passed a revised regulation on clean governance and another specifying sanctions for those who break Party rules in October 2015.
The former sets high standards for leading cadres while the latter marks out the bottom line for 88 million Party members. The revision upholds the principle that the Party's code of conduct must be stricter than the law.
Despite the investigation and prosecution of hundreds of officials, China's commitment to combatting corruption is showing no signs of letting up.
The CCDI is prepared to make new moves. All central Party and government organs will be under the watch of inspection agencies in a move to eliminate blind spots in intra-Party supervision.
Moreover, graft inspections will be expanded to all local governments, enterprises and public institutions under the administration of the central authorities before the 19th CPC National Congress.
There are no quick or easy fixes to corruption, which has been long in the making. More must be done to root out the scourge that threatens the Party's very survival.
