Editor's Note

For many government officials, the past year has been hard on them. For starters, the nationwide anti-corruption crackdown on "tigers and flies" has been quite a challenge.

Nearly 20,000 Chinese officials have been punished for breaches of new guidelines put in place last year, China's discipline watchdog said on December 2.

Among these, 4,675 Party members at different levels were found to have had involvement in 17,380 cases.

Chasing 'Tigers and Flies'

● High-ranking officials under investigation for graft since the 18th Party Congress

	Dec 29, 2013	Li Chongxi, chairman of the Sichuan provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.
	Dec 20, 2013	China's Vice Minister of Public Security Li Dongsheng is under investigation for "suspected serious law and discipline violations," the Communist Party's discipline watchdog said on December 20.
	Nov 28, 2013	Xu Jie, deputy chief of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, is under investigation for serious law and discipline violations.
	Nov 27, 2013	Guo Youming, vice governor of central China's Hubei Province, has been removed from his post for "suspected serious disciplinary violations."
	Nov 19, 2013	Chen Baihuai, formerly served as vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was under investigation for suspected "serious disciplinary and law violations."
	Oct 28, 2013	Liao Shaohua, a Standing Committee member of the Party Committee of Southwest China's Guizhou Province, is under investigation for suspected severe violations of disciplines and laws.
	Oct 17, 2013	Ji Jianye, mayor of Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, is under investigation for suspected discipline and law violations, the discipline watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) revealed on Thursday.
	Sep 1, 2013	Jiang Jiemin, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council, was under investigation for "suspected serious disciplinary violations."
	Aug 26, 2013	Wang Yongchun, deputy general manager of the CNPC, was being investigated over suspected "serious violations of discipline."
	Aug 22, 2013	Bo Xilai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, stood open trial on August 22 on charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power at the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in East China's Shandong Province. Bo was sentenced to life imprisonment in September for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.
	Jul 8, 2013	Liu Zhijun, former railways minister, who was given a suspended death penalty in early July for bribery and abuse of power.
	Jul 6, 2013	Li Daqiu, former vice chairman of the Guangxi Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman of the Guangxi Federation of Trade Unions is under investigation for suspected disciplinary violations.
	Jun 30, 2013	Wang Suyi, former head of the United Front Work Department under the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's Committee of the CPC, is investigated for suspected disciplinary violations.
	Jun 23, 2013	Guo Yongxiang, former chairman of Sichuan's provincial federation of literary and art circles, is being investigated for suspected disciplinary violations.  Guo had formerly been a member of the standing committee of the CPC Sichuan provincial committee and a vice governor of Sichuan Province.
	Jun 4, 2013	Ni Fake, former vice governor of Anhui Province is under investigation for alleged disciplinary violations.
	May 12, 2013	Liu Tienan, former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, is being probed for bribe-taking.
	Dec 5, 2012	Li Chuncheng, former vice secretary of the CPC Committee of Sichuan Province, was sacked in December over suspected "serious disciplinary violations."

● Weeding out grassroots corruption

Despite the achievements in the CPC's anti-extravagance drive, grassroots officials are still considered the most at risk for violations of the "eight-point" rules.

Statistics from the CCDI showed that nearly 99 percent of the violations found by the CCDI involved prefecture- or township-level officials.

Another official in sex tape scandal jailed for bribery
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Government Efforts

Future campaigns
Anti-graft watchdog to focus on benefits China's anti-corruption watchdog is planning to draft the standards governing officials' benefits and welfare, defining varying packages based on the level of the official. China to force officials to disclose asset info China will launch a pilot scheme to make newly promoted officials disclose their spouses' and children's employment status, assets and international travel records, according to a document published by the Party's top disciplinary watchdog on November 29.
Fighting corruption online
Disciplinary authorities open nearly 1,000 microblogs Disciplinary authorities across China have opened nearly 1,000 microblog accounts to better interact with the public amid efforts to fight corruption. Discipline bodies launch website The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Ministry of Supervision on September 2 jointly opened an official website, offering the public a new online channel to report corrupt officials.
Tightened regulations
Xi stresses ‘work styles’ in new anti-graft drive Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said on June 18 that the Party's upcoming year-long campaign will be a "thorough cleanup" of undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance. Chinese disciplinary officials urged to discard VIP cards The discipline watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has urged staff with disciplinary and supervisory organs to throw away "membership cards received in various names." Year-long frugality campaign not one-time thing A document issued on December 19 by the State Council, China's cabinet, and the CPC Central Committee ordered that no memorials be held for deceased officials and that special groups should not be tasked with arranging officials' funerals. Officials are also forbidden from hosting lavish funerals or taking advantage of the occasion to collect condolence money. Party leadership has banned flower arrangements in meeting rooms, expensive liquor, delicacies such as shark fins, bird nests and wild animal products, as well as luxurious gifts during festivals. During the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival, officials will not receive calendars and greeting cards nor celebrate with fireworks unless paid for out of their own pockets. TV stations have even cut festival evening galas in response to the campaign.
Two rounds of inspections
Anti-corruption hunt targets 'big game' Ten inspection teams were recently dispatched by central authorities to oversee performances of senior government officials in an effort to boost intra-Party discipline and crack down on corruption. China's Party inspectors hits road again The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will soon send out its second batch of inspectors this year, top CPC disciplinary official Wang Qishan said in Beijing on October 23.
Fighting graft in armed forces
Graft crackdown in army An inspection into decadence will focus on leading officers of the Communist Party of China (CPC) within the military, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission (CMC) Xu Qiliang said. CMC issues inspection guidelines to the military China's Central Military Commission (CMC), one of the country's most powerful institutions, on Tuesday issued a set of documents that spells out how the military should strengthen self-inspections in order to fight corruption. New audit guideline for military officials is anti-graft campaign latest Property ownership, use of official cars and hiring of service personnel are for the first time included in the auditing procedure of military officials, read a latest guideline released by the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China. PLA to survey all property interests The People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) will conduct a sweeping survey of all of its construction projects and real estate holdings, the PLA Daily reported on June 21. New military plates highlight anti-corruption The Ministry of National Defense will not issue special military plates for luxury vehicles when it rolls out its new plates on May 1.

Voices of Top Leaders

Party should crack down on "tigers" and "flies" at the same time by dealing with illegal activities of officials on the one hand and tackling malpractices and corruption cases, which closely impact the people, on the other.

Power should be restricted by the cage of regulations.

-- Chinese President Xi Jinping made the remarks during a speech at a plenary meeting of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on January 22, 2013


Disciplinary inspection groups must sharpen their eyes, ears and noses, and be adept at supervision and brave enough to strictly handle misconduct.

With prominent status and concentrated powers, Party and state organs are in need of comprehensive supervision more than other department, and the inspection work can only be strengthened, not weakened.

-- Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), made the remarks on November 27 at a meeting attended by leading officials of disciplinary inspection groups within various Party and government departments.

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Web editor: guwei@globaltimes.com.cn