Inspection Tour System of the Chinese Communist Party

To further perfect the inner-party supervisory mechanism and bring into full play the supervisory function exercised by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC over leading groups and their members at provincial (ministerial) level, the plan that “according to the needs of its work, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC is to select and send cadres at ministerial level to make inspection tours of provinces and ministries” was adopted at the 6th plenary session of the aforesaid commission after securing the approval of the CCCPC. From April 1996 to August 1998, the commission sent 7 batches of such inspection tour groups respectively to make inspection tours of the Party committees of 18 provinces (regions), ministries and commissions.

In 2000, the CCCPC decided to establish an office in charge of the inspection tour work jointly run by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and Organization Department of the CCCPC so as to send inspection tour groups to supervise and examine the work done by provincial Party and government leading groups and especially done by their main responsible members. From May 2001 to March 2003, the aforesaid inspection tour groups made inspection tours of 8 provinces (regions).

In November 2002, a major policy decision that “mechanism for the Party's discipline inspection should be reformed and perfected, the inspection tour system should be established and improved” was made at the 16th National Congress of the CPC. In December 2003, the CCCPC issued Regulations (Tentative) on Inner-Party Supervision of the CPC so as to make clear the inspection tour work in the form of the inner-party statutes.

According to the requirements of the plan made by the CCCPC, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and Organization Department of the CCCPC officially set up special inspection tour groups in 2003. At present, there are 11 such inspection tour groups set up by the aforesaid commission and department, of which five are in charge of making local inspection tours, one in charge of making such tours of financial organs, three responsible for making inspection tours of state-owned enterprises and two responsible for making such tours of state organs. To strengthen their organization and leadership, the commission and the department have established a system of holding joint meetings on inspection tour work accountable for making study of and plan for organizing and coordinating inspection tour work. Under the aforesaid mechanism is the office in charge of the inspection tour work jointly set up by them, which, as an administrative organ for joint meetings dealing with routine work, is responsible for making comprehensive coordination and policy study for the inspection tour work, as well as for ensuring system establishment, personnel management, logistics-guarantee, keeping in touch with and giving guidance to provincial, regional and municipal inspection tour working organs. The establishment of the aforesaid inspection tour groups and office is exclusively manned by the commission and the department and its staff are mainly selected and provided by the aforesaid two units.

From 2003 to 2004, provincial (regional and municipal) Party committees as well as the Party committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps set up their own inspection tour groups and offices in charge of inspection tour work respectively, which, as inspection tour working organs at provincial level, are responsible for making inspection tours of cities (localities, prefectures and leagues), provincial departments and counties (cities, districts and banners), state-owned enterprises and higher-learning institutions within their jurisdiction. There are 121 inspection tour groups and 32 offices in charge of inspection tour work set up by the Party committees of the aforesaid provinces (regions and cities) as well as the aforesaid corps, manned with special staff, who are mainly selected and provided by provincial committees for discipline inspection and provincial organization departments.

During their inspection tours, inspection tour groups at various levels have learned and grasped what they want to find out mainly by listening to back-reports, attending meetings as non-voting delegates, convening symposium, having individual conversations with persons concerned, looking up documents and materials, accepting letters and visits from the masses and conducting questionnaire-surveying. The following are the main working procedures they take up after being stationed in the places or units to be inspected. First, a meeting with members of a leading group of the place or unit to be inspected is held so that the members will be briefed on the main tasks and arrangements of the inspection tour work, and then the latter give a full account of their place or unit to be inspected. The local media, invited by the aforesaid leading members, will give an open coverage of the arrival of the inspection tour group, its tasks and ways to do its work. On the other hand, a proper way to contact the aforesaid group is to be made public in a certain range so as to facilitate the acceptance of letters and visits from cadres and masses. Second, investigation and study will be launched in order to learn and grasp in a thorough way the relevant situation. Third, the situation learned and problems discovered must be earnestly analyzed and studied and a survey report must be compiled. Fourth, what has been learned and discovered in the course of inspection tours must be reported without delay to the leading organization in charge of the inspection tour work. Fifth, what has been learned and discovered in the course of inspection tours, as well as relevant comments and proposals must be fed back to the place and unit that has been inspected. Sixth, what has been learned and discovered in the course of inspection tours, as well as relevant comments and proposals must be submitted respectively to departments concerned for study or punishment.

Since the 16th National Congress of the CPC, inspection tour organs at different levels have provided important grounds for the CCCPC and provincial (regional and municipal) Party committees to make policy decisions by resolutely executing decisions and plans made by the CCCPC and provincial (regional and municipal) Party committees, earnestly performing their supervisory duty, maintaining close contact with social realities and going deep down to the grass-roots levels to learn and grasp actual conditions of the inspected places and units. Therefore they have played an important role in strengthening supervision over leading groups and cadres, helping improving the Party building and other work in the inspected places and units, and scored remarkable achievements.