China’s anti-corruption campaign is being reinforced with a renewed demand for loyalty, after the ruling Communist Party adopted a resolution promising to remove “impurities and viruses” from its ranks.
The document, agreed at a key leadership gathering this week, sets out a tougher framework for internal discipline and calls for officials to be assessed on their party allegiance, conduct and personal relationships.
It says the party is broadly sound but that problems involving ideological commitment, organisational discipline and working methods have not been fundamentally resolved.
China’s Communist Party discipline drive
The resolution calls for officials to be monitored throughout their careers, with greater scrutiny of personal declarations and investigations when family wealth or spending appears inconsistent with legitimate income.
It also demands regular checks on the business activities of officials’ relatives. The campaign will target concealed and technology-enabled corruption, including proxy shareholdings, cryptocurrency, blockchain and cross-border funds.
Party members are expected to demonstrate loyalty through their day-to-day work, personal conduct, public remarks, social contacts and family values. Promotion and vetting will take account of their “party spirit”, the document says.
The resolution also refers to collective leadership, stating that party organisations should not require officials at successive levels to uphold the “personal authority” of those ultimately in charge.
That provision appears aimed at personalised rule in lower-level party and government bodies, while the document separately calls on members to safeguard President Xi Jinping’s position as the party’s “core”. Members must remain aligned with the top leadership “in thought, politics and action”.
The measures come about a year before an expected leadership reshuffle, when Xi is expected to secure another five-year term.
Explaining the resolution, Mr Xi said: “Only by advancing full and rigorous party self-governance with unwavering persistence, and continually removing the viruses that corrode the party’s healthy body, can the party be ensured never to lose its nature, conviction and character, and can the red country be passed down from generation to generation.”
