The first round of personnel adjustment within the Communist Party of China (CPC) and government has been launched, marked by some experts as a sign to carry out the reform plan from the Party's key plenum earlier this month.
Hou Kai, a former member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and former deputy auditor-general of the National Audit Office, was appointed the secretary of the discipline inspection commission of Shanghai on Wednesday.
The comprehensive reform plan deliberated on November 15 said the leadership of watchdog bodies should be strengthened and the nomination and examination of local discipline watchdog leaders should be conducted by their upper-level counterparts.
The current system, in which local Party discipline bodies are under the dual leadership of both local Party committees at the same level and an upper-level discipline body, does not clarify which side local discipline bodies should listen to if there is a conflict.
"The practice in Shanghai reflects the message of the reform plan regarding the nomination of local discipline watchdog leaders, which aims to strengthen the independence of power supervision organizations," Ren Jianming, a professor at Tsinghua University specializing in the study of corruption, told the Global Times.
Ren noted that in the past, local Party committees played a significant role in nominating discipline officials at the same level and the discipline bodies were mainly under the leadership of Party committees, which made local discipline officials often reluctant to carry out their work.
The official from the central discipline watchdog can better carry out the central discipline body's decision concerning strengthening direct leadership within the discipline system, Chen said.
Another personnel adjustment is marked by enhancing the independence of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) provincial committees, analysts said.
Chairpersons of these committees across 31 provincial regions nationwide no longer hold concurrent positions within the standing committees of provincial Party committees, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
"The change reduces the number of officials in CPC provincial committees and makes the Party's administrative management work more efficient," Gu Yeli, a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Meanwhile personnel adjustment has been made in Chongqing and other local government organs.
"Personnel adjustment at the local level is routine after key plenums following the country assuming new leadership," Chen Jiaxi, an associate professor of political science from Shenzhen University, told the Global Times on Thursday.