Xi stresses persistent efforts to improve Party conduct

BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has called for persistent efforts and long-term mechanisms to implement the guiding principles of the central Party leadership's eight-point decision on improving conduct.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction to a meeting on Party building held in Beijing on Friday.

Xi said that Party conduct — which dictates the Party's image — decides the level of public support it enjoys and its very existence, and urged persistent efforts to implement these guiding principles.

This latest education campaign to thoroughly implement the eight-point decision has been carried out faithfully, with notable results achieved, Xi said.

Highlighting that pointless formality, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance are stubborn and recurrent issues to tackle, Xi called for efforts to make the education campaign more targeted and effective, and to establish and improve regular mechanisms to detect and address those issues.

He also urged efforts to give full play to the role of public oversight, and to scrutinize and punish those who continue to violate Party discipline regulations in a strict, expedited manner.

In March, the CPC launched a four-month campaign to urge its around 100 million members to bolster compliance with the eight-point rules, a landmark code of conduct introduced under the aegis of Xi in December 2012.

The document sets out rules for Political Bureau members when they conduct research tours, meetings and paperwork while banning extravagances such as lavish banquets, red carpets and luxury perks. It has evolved into a consistent, Party-wide measure to curb unnecessary formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance — tendencies that risk alienating the Party from the people.

The Friday meeting also reviewed the results of the education campaign, among other matters.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Central Leading Group for Party Building, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech.

Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the Central Leading Group for Party Building, attended the meeting and also made a speech.

The meeting urged the whole Party to study Xi's important instructions meticulously, to gain a thorough understanding of those instructions, and to faithfully translate them into action.

Acknowledging that the education campaign has achieved its aim, the meeting called for efforts to strengthen conduct-improvement education through various means, thereby guiding Party members and officials to form good habits in following the eight-point decision and its detailed rules.

Efforts should be made to refine the system and mechanism for conduct improvement, and to translate institutional achievements into effective governance, the meeting said.