Spotlight: Overseas observers praise CPC's resolve to improve governance, self-supervision

Identifying the core leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping while establishing a political landscape that integrates concentration with democracy and discipline, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has drawn attention from overseas experts who follow China's affairs closely.

Observers hold that the all-round strict governance of the CPC as well as its democratic centralism are expected to inject fresh impetus into the efforts to pursue the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

XI'S CORE LEADERSHIP VITALLY IMPORTANT TO COUNTRY, PARTY

The plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held in late October endorsed Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, as the core leader.

The world could expect the Chinese leadership to be more responsive and resolute in its decision-making after the designation of Xi as the core of the party, a well-known German scholar said.

Gu Xuewu, director of the Center for Global Studies at Bonn University, made the observation in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua on the latest plenum.

By endorsing Xi as the party's core, the CPC could effectively enhance its capability to make difficult decisions and be more responsive to global geopolitical challenges, economic issues as well as crisis situations both at home and abroad, Gu said.

"The Chinese people as well as governments in countries around the world would find this out in the next few years to come," he said.

Commenting on Xi's core leadership, a Russian scholar told Xinhua in a recent interview that Xi should have appropriate authority under new circumstances.

"The time itself demands it," said Sergei Zheleznyak, deputy secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party.

For Khalid Mahmood's part, this announcement will help China to establish a clean and righteous political environment and will unite the party under one strong leader.

It will also help ensure the authority of the CPC Central Committee, the Party's unity and unified leadership, and long-lasting stability and prosperity of the party and country, said Mahmood, president of the Islamabad Council of World Affairs.

EFFECTIVE SUPERVISION,INTRA-PARTY DISCIPLINE INDISPENSABLE

Intra-Party democracy is vital to the CPC and is fundamental to a positive, healthy internal political environment, according to a CPC communique issued after the plenum.

"Beyond written rules, effective supervision and enforcement are vital," said Koh Chin Yee, CEO of Longus Research Institute, a think tank in Singapore. "Having rules that are loosely enforced ... is worse than not having any."

Koh said the rules and guidelines reflect social values and expectations.

The lack of discipline and, especially, corruption at any point in any component of the party organism is fraught with the most serious consequences, said Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor with the People's Friendship University of Russia.

Today, the role of the CPC is that of "the brain of the nation and its nervous system," the Russian expert said. "The brain of the party should work impeccably, while the nervous system has to react to the signals sent by the brain instantly and accurately."

Therefore, the decisions of the plenary session on strengthening party discipline and improving the system of inner-party supervision, as well as on the systemic fight against corruption, are absolutely timely and necessary, he said.

INTRA-PARTY DEMOCRACY FUNDAMENTAL TO HEALTHY POLITICAL LIFE

In another development, the CPC is not all about discipline. The norms of political life in the party under the current conditions have been stipulated to create within the party "a political landscape, which integrates concentration with democracy, discipline with freedom, and unified will with ease of individual mind."

The CPC has made democratic centralism a fundamental organizational principle.

The principle is reiterated in the newly published norms of political life in the party under the current conditions, which says intra-party democracy is vital to the CPC, and is fundamental to a positive, healthy internal political environment.

"The plenum outcomes regarded intra-party democracy as vital to the construction of the CPC ... these outcomes reflect the CPC's belief in the importance of the democratic exercise within the party structures, a vital matter that is likely to pump new blood into the party's arteries and avail the opportunity for its members to better perform their responsibilities," Dr. Mohamed Hassan Saeed, a Sudanese professor of political relations and expert in Asian affairs, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

He reiterated that the CPC plenum outcomes represent a model for all the world's political parties to follow suit.

"We need the experience of the Communist Party of China in Sudan to ensure a mature political life that is based on principles of democracy and the rule of law, integrity, anti-corruption, strict governance and strict supervision," said Saeed. Endi