Liu Shiyu, former head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017. Photo: IC

Voluntary confessions from officials suspected of violations prove the deterrent strength of China's anti-corruption system, observers said, after another official from Central China's Hunan Province turned himself in on Monday, a few days after the confession of the former head of China's securities watchdog.

Tang Qilin, former deputy Party chief of Changning in Hengyang, Hunan Province turned himself in for suspected discipline violations, and is cooperating with the investigation, the Hengyang Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China said on Monday.

Tang's case is just one among several corruption cases involving voluntary confessions from suspected corrupt officials. 

China's Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced on Sunday that Liu Shiyu, former head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, turned himself in and is being investigated by the CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission for violating Party disciplines and laws. 

Days before Liu's case, Qin Guangrong, former Party chief of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, also confessed, the CCDI said.

Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the series of voluntary confessions in recent days signal that China's "institutional anti-corruption mechanism has further deepened."

Ranging from laws and internal Party disciplines and regulations, to all-round system to curb corruption, such as the disciplinary and supervision departments and the fugitive chasing mechanism overseas, China's anti-corruption system has become stricter over the years, Zhi said.

According to the CCDI, since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, a total of 27,000 Party members and officials have voluntarily confessed to violating Party disciplines, and more than 5,000 others have voluntarily submitted their cases to the police.

Some of these people decided to surrender after being investigated, hoping to get a lenient punishment. It has become a new feature of the anti-corruption work that corrupt officials have taken the initiative to surrender, the CCDI commented on its website.