Xinhua Insight: China's new supervisory system to strengthen anti-graft work

A pilot program reforming China's supervisory system will provide a significantly more powerful system to strengthen the crackdown on graft.

Endorsed by China's top legislature, the pilot will set up new supervisory commissions in Beijing, and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces by integrating their respective governments' supervision departments and corruption prevention bureaus, as well as the divisions for handling bribery, dereliction of duty and prevention of duty-related crimes under their People's Procuratorates.

Forming a more centralized, authoritative and efficient supervisory system is a major political reform for the country, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee said in its decision made Sunday.

Such supervision commissions are "anti-corruption agencies by their nature", said Wang Qishan, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), in November.

China has been stepping up its anti-corruption efforts since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012. While cracking down on corrupt officials at both senior and grassroots levels, it sets great store by establishing stricter and complete systems to put powers in a cage of regulations.

After the norms of the Party political life under new circumstances and a regulation on intra-Party supervision were released November, the supervisory system reform is another step to restrict power and fight corruption.

INTEGRATION FOR EFFICIENCY

The integration of various anti-graft powers is a highlight of the reform, said Mo Jihong, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Institute of Law.

"Currently it is relatively difficult for scattered supervisory powers in different departments to perform supervision duties," said Xu Yaotong, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

The reform has united these scattered powers, helping to build a more authoritative and efficient system, Xu added.

The supervisory commissions are authorized to supervise, investigate and impose punishment on all public employees in the three pilot regions, and take up to 12 different measures, including interrogation, detention, and freezing of assets in doing their jobs.

RESPONSIBLE TO LEGISLATURE

Unlike the government's supervisory agencies in the past, the new supervisory commissions will have their heads elected by the people's congresses. Supervisory commissions will be responsible to legislative bodies on their own level, as well as to supervisory commissions at a superior level.

In this way, the commission becomes a supervisory organ in parallel with the government, which is different from the traditional administrative supervision body inside the government, said Ma Huaide, a law professor and vice president of China University of Political Science and Law.

This is in accordance with democratic supervision, and will help build a more rigorous legal supervision system, he added.

COVERING ALL

In his November remarks, Wang Qishan said the new supervisory commissions will work along with existing CPC discipline inspection commissions to supervise "all employees with public powers."

The supervision commissions cover areas that are not covered by CPC discipline inspection commissions, which will help build an environment where officials dare not, will not and can not go corrupt, said Ma. Endi