Xi: Upcoming campaign a 'thorough cleanup' of CPC

Want China Times, Xinhua 2013-06-19

Furthering ties with the people is the lifeline of the party, Xi Jinping
said. (Photo/Xinhua)

Xi Jinping, head of the Communist Party of China and the nation's president, said Tuesday that the party's upcoming year-long campaign will be a "thorough cleanup" of undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.

The main task of the campaign to boost ties between CPC members and the people focuses on building work styles, Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at a high-profile conference held to deploy the campaign.

Party members should be critical and self-critical in the spirit of rectifying improper work styles, Xi said.

"Winning or losing public support is an issue that concerns the CPC's survival or extinction," Xi said, stressing that the mass line, or furthering ties with the people, is the lifeline of the party.

The CPC can only be stable when it maintains a single mind and shares weal and woe with the people, as well as relies on the people to push forward historical advancement, he said.

With "serving the people, being down-to-earth, upright and corruption-free" as its main content, the education campaign could consolidate the CPC's foundation and position as China's governing party, boost its creativity, cohesion and combat capabilities, keep its advanced nature and purity, and win public trust and support, Xi said.

Despite the overall good relationship between the party and the people, Xi reminded party members of mounting hazards they face, namely laxity, mediocrity, distancing themselves from the people and corruption, which can be concluded as "four forms of decadence": formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.

These four forms of decadence are the most hated and complained problems by the people, severely damaging party-people ties, Xi said, calling for a campaign to spot and correct all these problems.

Xi called the campaign a "thorough inspection, overhaul and cleanup" of undesirable work styles and practices such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.

The Politburo of the CPC Central Committee decided at a conference held in April to launch a campaign to boost ties between CPC members and the public from the latter half of this year. The campaign will focus on CPC organs and officials at or above the county level who will be required to reflect on their own practices and correct any misconduct.

Xi said the campaign should focus on self-purification, self-perfection, self-renewal and self-progression. He also raised a metaphorical requirement for CPC members, using the phrase "watching from the mirror, grooming oneself, taking a bath and seeking remedies."

"Watching from the mirror" requires members to refer to the CPC Constitution as a mirror and to live up to CPC discipline and public expectations.

"Grooming oneself" means correcting one's misconduct and projecting a good image for the CPC members.

"Taking a bath" requires CPC members to keep a clean mind and behave properly so as to maintain the nature of a CPC member.

"Seeking remedies" means educating or punishing those who engage in misconduct.

Maintaining "flesh and blood ties" between party members and the people is an eternal subject, he said.

Xi said a long term mechanism should be established to encourage party members and officials to serve the people, be down-to-earth, upright and corruption-free as "the issue of improper work styles is prone to relapse and stubborn in nature."

The party should take the campaign as an opportunity to introduce new rules, improve existing ones, and nullify outdated regulations, he said, vowing that no exception should be made when implementing the rules.

Xi urged proper implementation of the campaign, asking local party committees to take it as "a major political task."

Liu Yunshan, another member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and head of the campaign's leading team, presided over Tuesday's conference.

The conference was also attended by the other five Politburo Standing Committee members, including Premier Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli.

"Maintaining close ties with the masses is the Party's largest political advantage while isolating from the people is the greatest danger facing the ruling CPC," Li Junru, former vice president of the CPC Central Committee Party School, told Xinhua.

Li Peilin, director of Sociology Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that nowadays many young officials, although better educated, do not know very well about grassroots' living conditions and their aspirations.

"The CPC should recruit young cadres with work experience at grassroots level and good knowledge about social conditions and public opinion," said Li Peilin.

The new CPC leadership, elected at a party congress last November,introduced an "eight-point" bureaucracy and formalism-fighting rule late last year, which urges CPC officials to reduce pomp, ceremony and bureaucratic visits and meetings.

Meanwhile, China has stepped up efforts in fighting corruption. Several senior officials have been investigated, including Liu Tienan, former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Li Chuncheng, former vice secretary of the CPC committee of southwest China's Sichuan province.