Xi's speech signifies the top leadership is more determined than ever to root out corruption and punish rule violators

Communist Party of China General Secretary Xi Jinping has pledged a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, reflecting the top leadership's determination to root out corruption from Chinese society.

Addressing the third plenum of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Xi said the Party has resolved to use "strong doses" to eradicate the "serious disease" of corruption. Emphasizing that no official found guilty of corruption will be spared and that the corrupt will eventually be caught, he said all officials should abide by the Party discipline.

During last year, the central leadership implemented a series of measures, including the "eight-point" governance rules for bureaucratic reform and the directive for eliminating the four "unhealthy winds" of formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance. The measures yielded some concrete results last year as the number of cases registered and dealt with by discipline inspection agencies nationwide, as well as the number of officials punished for violating Party and government discipline, increased by more than 10 percent year-on-year.

But corruption and work styles detrimental to the Party and the people are prone to relapse like a stubborn disease. Judging by the anti-corruption information updated at the CCDI plenum, the soil which breeds corruption is still fertile. So consistent and arduous efforts are needed to eliminate corruption and other unhealthy tendencies from society.

As senior anti-corruption officials have said, the high pressure on and the zero tolerance for corruption manifest the central leadership's determination to root out corruption from society for which the Party will intensify its fight against "tigers" and "flies" both this year.

Xi said the Party's discipline inspection system should be reformed to improve its corruption-prevention mechanism, warning that the fight against corruption is vital for the integrity of the CPC in the long run. The establishment and improvement of a mechanism to prevent corruption and punish the corrupt remain a national priority.

He said the five-year (2013-17) plan issued by the CPC Central Committee in December to build a mechanism to prevent corruption and punish the corrupt is a guideline that needs meticulous implementation by Party committees at all levels in all aspects of their work, including reform and development. The plan says the anti-corruption drive will use forceful and effective measures to tackle power-for-money deals, judicial corruption, major political disciplinary violation cases, corruption-triggered mass incidents, commercial bribery and favoritism in selection of officials.

Calling for efforts to ensure that disciplinary agencies at all levels enjoy "relatively independent and authoritative supervisory power", Xi said the authorities should strengthen supervision of power. Emphasizing that the use of power should be lawful and transparent to facilitate public supervision and prevent misuse or abuse of power, he said greater efforts will be made to hold officials accountable for wrongdoings so that laws and regulations are not confined to ink and paper.

In November, the Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee vowed to take a series of measures to restrain the use of power and promote clean governance, including ordered disclosure of assets by newly appointed officials and building of a system for allotment of houses to officials above certain levels. Experts say that since these reforms are of huge public concern, they are likely to be carried out in the months ahead along with the working out of other details.

Xi stressed the importance of a stricter Party and political discipline at the second plenum of the 18th Party CCDI in early 2013. Reiterating it at the third plenum, he said: "Obedience to Party discipline is unconditional and disciplinary departments at all levels should follow the discipline and investigate all cases of violation." Party organizations at all levels should put in all their efforts to make discipline a "high voltage line that is always on".

Organizational slackness and disciplinary laxness have made some Party organizations indifferent to any work that they think will not do them good. The message of the third CCDI plenum is that, to build an anti-corruption system, the authorities have to bring all levels of Party organizations and the huge number of Party members in line with the CPC Central Committee in political consciousness, which has no room for slackness.

"The power-for-money trade is a major hotbed of corruption and the lack of supervision may give rise to corruption and misuse of power," Ma Huaide, vice-president of China University of Political Science and Law, was quoted as saying by a newspaper affiliated to the Party's top anti-graft watchdog. "Strengthening effective supervision of and restraining power remain a key part of the country's ongoing drive to promote innovations of its anti-corruption mechanism," he said.

Stressing the importance of implementing the Party's measures, Xin Ming, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said: "In the process of comprehensive and deepening reforms, all central regulations and prohibitions should be strictly enforced."

And Li Faquan, chief of the Shandong provincial anti-corruption watchdog, said: "Lax discipline and weak organizational concept indeed are a potential concern for the Party. Xi's remarks at the plenum were pragmatic and aimed at eliminating the malpractice existing in some Party organizations."

The authors are writers with China Daily. China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News, People's Daily and Xinhua contributed to the article.

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