China to strengthen supervision on graft during holidays

BEIJING - Minister of Supervision Huang Shuxian has warned they will publicize the names of officials who violate the central authorities' thrifty regulations during upcoming holidays, urging officials to abide.

Huang made the remarks when being interviewed on Wednesday night at the official website of the ministry and the Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Huang said that during the upcoming Mid-autumn Festival and National Day holiday, anti-graft bodies will supervise gift-giving and mooncake ceremonies, extravagant dinners with public funds and bonus funds among governments, public institutions and state-owned enterprises.

Discipline violations will be strictly punished and the names of the officials involved will be publicized, Huang said.

Mid-autumn Festival, which falls on Sept 8 this year, is one of the major traditional Chinese festivals. It is common for family reunions before the seven-day National Day holiday starting Oct 1.

Huang, also deputy head of the CCDI, said that with strengthened efforts by anti-graft watchdogs at all levels in supervision and cracking down on violations, the Party and the government's work styles have improved.

The Chinese central authorities in late 2012 issued "eight-point" anti-bureaucracy and extravagance guidelines, and since June 2013, a "mass line" campaign was launched to bridge gaps between officials and the public, while cleaning up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

However, undesirable work styles have come back in some places, Huang said. He urged all anti-graft officials to take a sober and calm attitude to further oppose undesirable work styles.

Huang said the central anti-graft body will study on the trend and put forward countermeasures, especially against violations through e-commerce channels.