1st Ld-Writethru-China Focus: New regulation promises punishment for official incompetence

The Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday issued a new regulation on the performance of officials, promising that ineptitude could result in demotion or dismissal.

While China has meted out tough punishments for corrupt officials, those who simply do their jobs half-heartedly rarely suffer any consequences.

The new rules, which will be trialed and reviewed, stipulate that officials who do not adhere to Party rules; are corrupt; irresponsible; incompetent; or exhibit undesirable work styles, should be subject to "organizational adjustment", a euphemism encompassing demotion and contract termination.

The regulation was finalized on Friday at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee presided over by President Xi Jinping.

At the meeting, reform to the cadre selection system was discussed. It was stressed that encouragement, rewards, punishment and accountability should inform the appointment of the capable and removal of the incompetent.

In addition, the CPC cadre retirement and tenure systems should be run strictly, leading-cadre accountability should be intensified, and the system to remove disqualified cadres should be improved.

To improve cadre selection, CPC committees should take the lead, with Party chiefs being the first people responsible.

Local departments and organs were also urged to implement the regulation with realities.

A revised CPC regulation on discipline inspection was also adopted at the meeting, the first change since the Party rule was unveiled in 2009.

According to a statement published after the meeting, the revision has clarified the division of duty between discipline inspection agencies and prosecutors in anti-graft cases, as well as requirements on structure at both institutions. The full text of the new rule will be made public.

Since President Xi Jinping took office as Party chief in late 2012 and the state leader in early 2013, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has sent external inspectors to central and provincial governments, public institutions and state-owned enterprises.

Discipline inspection, which focuses on detecting undesirable work styles and corruption among CPC members, has intensified and has become a major tool to strictly govern the Party, said the statement.

Hundreds of officials have been investigated and prosecuted, ranging from Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, to county-level officials.

The task of strictly running the Party faces great challenge and needs to be guaranteed by powerful system or mechanism, it was noted at the meeting.

"To ensure the strict governing of the Party, discipline enforcement should be used before the enforcement of law," it said, adding Party's disciplinary rules should be "stricter than law".

There is a widely acknowledged concept in China that a Party member should follow a higher moral and professional standard than ordinary people. The view was reiterated as Xi laid out the strategic "Four Comprehensives", which includes strictly governing the Party. Endi