Xinhua Insight: Strict Party governance key policy of CPC thought

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will be convened from Monday to Thursday, and attendees will study how to strictly govern the Party.

The session is significant as governance is not only a key aspect in CPC thought, but also an important strategy to ensure the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

A KEY ASPECT OF "FOUR COMPREHENSIVES"

About four years ago when Xi Jinping became general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, he said the Party should supervise its own conduct,strictly govern itself and deal with the prominent issues facing the Party.

When he inspected Jiangsu Province two years ago, Xi called for a comprehensive focus in four areas: building an all-round moderately prosperous society, deepening reform, advancing rule of law, and strict Party governance.

Since then, the "Four Comprehensives" has widely been viewed as the strategic outline and key governance thought of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as general secretary.

Under the 18th Central Committee, the third plenary session studied deepening reform, the fourth plenary session studied advancing rule of law, and the fifth focused on building an all-round moderately prosperous society.

The sixth plenary session will study key issues regarding strict Party governance, taking the strategic vision of the "Four Comprehensives" to new height.

History shows that the development of the CPC has been in tandem with the development of the country, and only when the Party positively evolves can it make progress.

The Party now faces multiple tests, such as further advancing reform and opening up, and addressing challenges in the market economy, while it also faces the dangers of limited capabilities, corruption and of the Party cutting itself off from the people.

For these reasons, Xi has vowed to pursue Party building with greater determination and courage.

Since the CPC's 18th National Congress in late 2012, the Party has formulated a series of policies for Party construction, marking a more mature strategy.

NEW CHAPTER FOR PARTY BUILDING

For the CPC - the world's largest political party, with more than 88 million members and over 4.4 million Party organizations - warding off various risks and dangers, resisting temptations and retaining its vitality is not easy.

The CPC has strengthened Party leadership to chart a direction for strictly governing the Party.

Since January 2015, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has held multiple meetings to hear work reports from the Party leaderships of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the State Council, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Over the past four years, Xi has made important remarks on improving the Party's leadership in news reporting, state-owned enterprises and in developing philosophy and social sciences, among other aspects.

Championing the "zero tolerance" of corrupt officials, the CPC Central Committee has hunted "tigers" and swatted "flies," as high and low ranking officials are respectively known. Alongside this, a "Fox Hunt" campaign has been carried out to arrest overseas fugitives, including corrupt officials.

A number of corrupt officials have been punished by law, including Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong and Ling Jihua.

The CPC has also targeted lavish banquets, parties at VIP clubs, irregularities in the use of government vehicles, using public funds for private spending, extravagant government offices, officials who have moved family and assets overseas, freeloaders in government agencies and government-funded organizations.

The CPC has laid solid ground for strictly governing the Party by streamlining and adhering to Party regulations.

The CPC has injected vitality to Party governance through reform and innovation, the intra-Party inspection being a good example.

Inspection aims to uncover harmful behavior among officials, including the trading of power for money, abuses of power, bribery, as well as harmful work methods such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

On Oct. 17, findings from the 10th round of inspection have been publicly disclosed.

KEY TO NATIONAL REJUVENATION

Strict Party governance has always played a vital role in the political life of the CPC and the cause of national rejuvenation.

Eighty years ago, under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army soldiers completed the Long March in extreme circumstances, overcoming numerous obstacles that hindered the victory of the revolution.

From 1934 to 1936, they left their bases and marched through raging rivers, freezing mountains and muddy swamps to stop the siege of Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) forces. Some marched as far as 12,500 kilometers.

At a gathering last week to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the success of the Long March, Xi hailed the move as an "epic, human miracle" and called for efforts to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation in "a new Long March."

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have forged ahead against all odds and succeeded in turning a once poor and weak country into the world's second biggest economy. Behind this tremendous achievement was the CPC's crisis awareness and its determination to dynamically build and push forward the Party.

From economic to environmental issues, from raising people's sense of satisfaction to ensuring people are treated equally and fairly before the law, governing the country over the next decade will probably be one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

China faces unprecedented challenges as it moves on to the world's center stage. Whether or not the Party can develop with the times will determine whether it will emerge victorious in the new Long March.

Looking forward, China needs to show backbone to advance its development, and over 1.3 billion Chinese people need a strong and energetic guide as the country moves closer towards its goal of national rejuvenation.

The CPC is committed to putting the blueprint for strictly governing the Party into action, ensuring the CPC is always the core leadership in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

In doing so, the CPC aims to realize its two centenary goals: building an all-round moderately prosperous society for the CPC's centennial in 2021, and becoming a modern socialist country in time for the PRC's centennial in 2049. Endi