As a major Party official reshuffle is scheduled to take place around the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the second half of 2012, People's Daily, the CPC's official newspaper, has published a series of articles warning those who are to begin new terms not to abuse their power.

It warned that if the government does not live up to the public's expectation of working for the people, the ruling party could lose its trust and be "discarded by the people."

A total of 14 provinces, regions and municipalities concluded elections last year, and the remaining 17 will see new leaders take office this year.

Experts said that the series of articles in the newspaper sends a clear signal that the Party has realized the serious situation the government is facing. This resonates particularly at a time when the wealth gap continues to widen, disputes over land and property occur more frequently, and people have become more aware about protecting their rights. They also said that the warning is more than a routine education of the new officials.

Stern warnings

The People's Daily articles emphasized that officials in leadership positions should shoulder their responsibilities, adhere to Party principles and do everything while at their posts to remember they are Party members and are officials serving the people, not themselves.

"History shows that an important reason why some political parties or political regimes lost ruling positions was that they used their power for personal or small groups' interests, and they had a sharp confrontation with the people. Ultimately they were abandoned by the people," one People's Daily article said.

The articles mentioned that the CPC taking power more than half a century ago was the choice of history and the people, because the Party put the people's interests above its own. If Party members seek interests for themselves, they will lose that support.

"The people will be watching whether the new leadership and officials can resist the erosion of various lures to their power," one article stated.

Newly-elected CPC officials should keep developing a correct attitude toward their work and stick to the principles of putting people first and serving the people, Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at a plenary session of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in January.

"It is important and necessary to warn officials, as there are too many cases where officials did not keep their promises to the people, and lost credibility," Lin Zhe, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times. "Officials need great wisdom to be incorruptible."

"Some officials do not have uncompromising faith in the Party, so their family members emigrate to other countries," Yu Jianrong, a social commentator, told the Global Times.

Four major dangers

The CPC is faced with four major dangers, namely "a slacking off mentally, of being incompetent, of alienating the masses, and of being dispirited and corrupt," said Hu Jintao in a keynote speech on July 1 to mark the Party's 90th birthday.

Social discontent has been growing in many places across China as the rich get richer and ordinary people's rights are often sacrificed for the privileged. Many of the problems often lead to the corruption of local officials.

Last month, Tang Chengqi, previously a Standing Committee Member of the CPC Nanchang Municipal Committee, Jiangxi Province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes worth 39 million yuan ($6 million). The bribes were mainly from the numerous infrastructure projects he had pushed forward when he was in office, Hubei Daily reported.

Several senior officials have been sacked in corruption cases recently. Liu Zhijun, former railways minister, Tian Xueren, former vice governor of Northeast China's Jilin Province and Huang Sheng, former vice governor of the eastern Shandong Province, are under investigation for graft charges.

According to the CCDI, a total of 4,843 Chinese officials above county head level were punished for discipline violations in 2011, among which 777 have been handed over for prosecution.

These officials did not think much of the people's interests, but focused on their own, said Yu Jianrong.

Wukan, a fishing village in Guangdong, known for last year's three-month long protests against local authorities over land disputes and corruption in village committee elections, is now scheduled to select a new committee on March 1.

"Some corrupt officials have little credibility among the people, as they mainly focus on private interests and having little contact with the people," Mao Shoulong, a professor from the Renmin University of China,  told the Global Times.

Criteria for selection

Comprehensive criteria should be adopted to select and promote competent officials in the ongoing reshuffling of the CPC's local committees, Xi Jinping, China's vice president and president of Party School of the CPC Central Committee , said while meeting heads of the Party's provincial-level organization departments in December.

The Party's local committees should avoid simply regarding economic aggregate and the growth rate of an administrative region as the main parameters to evaluate an official's political achievements, he said.

"An official's morality should be placed above all other criteria. A recommendation mechanism could also be another way to select officials," Zhang Xin, a professor from the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

Yu Jianrong suggested that clear goals for officials will help them lead the country, and thus they could govern for the people and serve the people.