Firm resolve shown to reform anti-graft system to better meet the needs of times: China Daily editorial

The three-day fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that concluded in Beijing on Wednesday provides some food for thought on the progress in China's anti-corruption work.

The fight against corruption in the country since 2012 should leave no room for doubt that it has become an integral part of China's pursuit of high-quality development under the leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core.

As a testimony to that, in his speech at the conference, Xi called for the spirit of reform to be carried forward and a rigid standard applied to the management of the Party.

The fight against corruption represents the most testing challenge for the Party and it should be carried out as an institutionalized and conventional practice in a rule-of-law manner to ensure its precision, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability.

That's why Xi described the anti-corruption work as a "tough, protracted and all-out battle". The transformation of China's anti-graft efforts from a storm-style campaign to a norm of Party management and State governance, which involves not only the disciplinary departments and the judicial authorities, but also enterprises, media outlets and the whole society, represents a paradigm shift in the endeavor.

That necessarily has resulted in a fundamental change in the legal, institutional and social environment in which power holders exercise their power, particularly with the assistance of technology, such as big data, as it has become almost impossible to cover up the digital trails of corrupt behaviors once they are found.

After the previous plenary session of the 20th CCDI in January last year that targeted corruption in power-concentrated, capital-intensive and resource-rich sectors such as finance, State-owned enterprises, energy, medicine and infrastructure projects, which will continue to be key battlefields for the disciplinary watchdogs, the just-concluded meeting also put new types of corruption and hidden corruption appearing in emerging sectors, as well as grassroots corruption in the anti-corruption crosshairs.

The complicated challenges faced by China in its pursuit for high-quality development have made such a multipronged anti-corruption work layout imperative as it is conducive to preventing corruption from draining the dynamism from the development of new quality productive forces and preventing grassroots power holders from affecting the execution of policies of higher authorities at the county level that have a direct bearing on people's livelihoods.

Besides, according to the readout of the meeting, the future anti-graft efforts will also pay attention to rectifying the problematic work style of some Party members and civil servants, particularly those whose work is directly associated with industry, the market, the business environment and people's livelihood, and improve the effectiveness of the accountability system. These moves mean a marked expansion of the anti-corruption endeavors which will not only cover the corrupt officials but also those with blatant malfeasance misconduct and their superiors.

Compared with the corrupt power holders in key posts, the "crucial minority" referred to as "tigers", the corrupt lower-level officials, known as "flies", exist in a much broader sphere and in a much larger number. The corrosive effects of both the "tigers" and "flies" damage the governance system and undermine people's confidence in the Party.

As such, there is no doubt that the Party is trying to establish a full-coverage, lasting and balanced anti-graft system, and make the work an integral part of its endeavor to improve its internal management and the law-based governance of the country. Rather than hindsight punishment, the emphasis is on eradicating the soil for corruption so as to prevent it from taking root in the first place.

That Xi again stressed the CPC Central Committee's leadership of the anti-corruption work reflects its objective evaluation of the grave situation the Party still faces and its sober-mindedness, down-to-earth pragmatism and courage to lead the self-reform of the Party.

That should serve to inject confidence in the anti-corruption endeavor.