Party leaders serious about accountability: Wang Qishan

China's top graft buster has urged implementation of an intra-Party accountability regulation, saying central authorities are serious about punishing officials for poor leadership.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) on Sunday published rules that hold Party officials responsible for serious consequences caused by negligence or poor work performance, including failure to implement Party guidelines and policies; to discipline subordinates or identify and address loopholes in Party management; or corruption in their own departments.

Writing in Party mouthpiece the People's Daily on Tuesday, Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said the regulation was drafted to make Party officials aware of their responsibility in an effort to strengthen its cohesion.

Unlike existing Party rules involving accountability mechanism, which mostly focus on administrative accountability in accidents and incidents, the new regulation targets ineffective implementation of Party guidelines and policies, Wang said.

Leaders of Party committees at various levels should take the lead in obeying the regulation, he wrote, promising tough punishment for officials who fail to comply.

They will face punishment according to the severity of their wrongdoing, ranging from being named and shamed internally to formal warnings to suspension or dismissal.

Wang also ordered discipline inspectors to make public serious violations. Endi