Rules, norms offer double security

Party General Secretary Xi Jinping (center), newly named the 'core' leader of the Communist Party of China, attends the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC in Beijing with six other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the committee. LI XUEREN / XINHUA

The two sets of disciplinary rules and norms of conduct that the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China introduced on Thursday for all Party members embody what top leader Xi Jinping and his fellow leaders have been doing to build a clean Party and government.

The rules and norms represent the leader-ship's conviction that the Party must strictly govern itself, because as the ruling party, it has the responsibility to lead more than 1.3 billion people to achieve the Chinese dream.

The two sets of rules and norms are part of the Party leadership's strategic design for the nation's long-term governance. They inherit the lessons learned during the Party's 95-year history and include innovations made by the current leadership.

While the innovative measures have focused on senior officials as the major supervision tar-get, the new rules and norms will act as a system of double security and facilitate institution-building for a cleaner Party.

The Party has a history of regulating its members' political life and strengthening intra-Party supervision. The new rules and norms, however, directly target the critical issues that act as a brake on efforts to realize the leader-ship's big picture for a cleaner and more disciplined Party.

The sixth plenary session officially conferred on Xi Jinping the highest honor of being the Party's "core" leader. As the Party's top leader, Xi has led the nation to break new ground in reform and development, domestic affairs and defense and foreign policies.

Bestowing on him this honor is significant, since it affirms the authority of the central leadership and strengthens the internal solidarity of the Party.

The strict adherence by Party members to the rules and norms will develop a clean political ecology and ensure the continued improvement of governance. By implementing the policy decisions of the leadership, the Party will secure the long-term prosperity of the nation.