Xi delivers important speech at CCDI plenary session

BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on the morning of January 8.

He emphasized that after ten years of unremitting anti-graft efforts in the new era, an overwhelming victory has been achieved and fully consolidated. However, the situation remains severe and complex. We must have a clear understanding of the latest developments and trends in the fight against corruption, and of the soil and conditions that give rise to corruption. The Party must continuously combat corruption with tenacity, perseverance and precision, and resolutely win the tough and protracted battle against corruption.

Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi and Ding Xuexiang, all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting. Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CCDI, presided over the meeting.

Xi pointed out that 2023 was the first year of implementing the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress on all fronts. The CPC Central Committee is committed to advancing self-reform. A theoretic study program has been rolled out across the Party to learn and implement the Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era. The CPC Central Committee has kept innovating Party theories to promote cohesion and forge the Party's soul, and made political supervision more concrete, targeted, and regular. It has focused on rectifying pointless formalities and bureaucratism, removing bad apples, strengthening the management and supervision of Party members, promoting full and rigorous Party self-governance, ensuring the full implementation of the decisions and arrangements of the 20th CPC National Congress, and smooth start of the new journey.

Xi emphasized that as the world's largest Marxist ruling party, how can our party successfully break free from the historical cycle of rise and fall and ensure that the Party will never change its nature, convictions or its character? This is a strategic question facing all Party members. Since the Party's 18th National Congress, we have continuously engaged in practical exploration and theoretical reflection during the great practice of exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance. "Let the people supervise the government," was the first answer Comrade Mao Zedong proposed to this question. On that basis, we have provided the second answer - constantly advancing the Party's self-reform. In the practical and theoretical exploration of full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era over the past decade, we have constantly deepened our understanding of the Party's self-reform, accumulated rich experience, and achieved a series of important theoretical achievements. These have systematically answered the major questions: Why our Party needs self-reform, why it can exercise such self-reform, and how we can advance it.

Xi pointed out that in advancing the Party's self-reform, we need to grasp nine main points, namely: To uphold the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee as its fundamental guarantee, to lead the great social revolution as its fundamental purpose, to follow the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its fundamental guide, to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall as its strategic goal, to solve the problems unique to a large Party as ours as its main direction, to improve the system of full and rigorous Party self-governance as an effective pathway, and to forge a strong organization and build a competent team as the focus of our endeavors, to improve conduct and enforce discipline as a linchpin for fight against corruption, and to combine self-supervision with people's oversight as a strong motivating force. We must persist in emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, keeping up with the times, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. We should continuously engage in practical exploration and theoretical innovation, deepen our understanding of the way for the Party's self-reform, make the philosophy and measures of the CPC's self-reform more meticulous, and implement it in every front and every aspect in a concrete and in-depth manner.

Xi emphasized that on the new journey of the fight against corruption, we must continue to make sustained efforts and further progress in eradicating the soil and conditions for corruption. The overall requirement is that coordinated efforts should be made to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity or desire to be corrupt, address both the symptoms and root causes in a systematic way, and continue to extend the depth and width of the fight against corruption. We should adopt the right approach for specific problems, and take targeted and combined measures to fight against corruption, in order to gradually reduce recurring old problems, prevent the spread of new problems, and institutionalize the long-term efforts to preempt and fight against corruption.

Xi pointed out that we must strengthen the CPC's centralized and unified leadership over the fight against corruption. CPC committees at all levels must effectively strengthen their leadership over the entire process of the fight, firmly support the investigation and prosecution of corruption cases, and take resolute actions to rectify problems. Disciplinary inspection commissions and supervisory commissions, as specialized agencies, should take responsibilities in a more proactive way, effectively assist the CPC committees in organizing and coordinating the fight against corruption, and integrate the strengths of all institutions in the entire anti-corruption chain. Functional departments must maintain efficient collaboration and consciously translate decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee in this regard into concrete actions.

Xi stressed the need to maintain tough actions against corruption. In the face of a still grim and complex situation, there is no way for us to turn back, drop our guard and show leniency in our fight against corruption, and we must continue our endeavors in this regard. It is important to continue our focus on seven types of misconduct. To be specific, they are as follows: Some officials engage in cronyism and ostracize those outside of their circle; some form self-serving cliques; some anonymously lodge false accusations and fabricate rumors; some seek to buy popular support and rig elections in their favor; some promise official posts and lavish praise on each other for their promotions; some do things their own way and feign compliance with policies while acting counter to them; and some get too big for their boots and make presumptuous comments on the decisions of the CPC Central Committee. It's essential to make it our top priority to crack down on any collusion between officials and business people, combat profit-seeking activities with the help of power, and resolutely prevent interest groups and power groups from infiltrating the political sphere. It is imperative to further combat corruption in the sectors of finance, state-owned enterprises, energy, medicine, and infrastructure construction where power is concentrated, capital is intensive, and resources are abundant, and preempt potential risks. Firm action must be taken to deal with corrupt low-ranking officials, so that the people can have a stronger sense of gain.

Xi called for deepening reform to stop corruption from growing and spreading. The abuse of power is what corruption is all about. It is a must to keep in check the key power involved in formulating policies, making decisions, as well as approval and oversight. It is important to deepen institutional reform in key areas, accelerate the development of governance mechanisms in emerging areas, improve the mechanism for allocating power and regulating its operation, further plug institutional loopholes, regulate discretion, and reduce opportunities for rent-seeking. It is necessary to establish a joint mechanism for early warning about corruption and punishment of corrupt elements, strengthen dynamic monitoring of potential risks of integrity being eroded, and strengthen the speedy handling of new types of corruption and hidden abuse of power.

Xi stressed the need to further improve anti-corruption laws and regulations. It is important to improve basic laws and regulations in order to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to become corrupt, and strengthen the supporting system for supervising leadership teams and top leaders. It is imperative to continuously promote national anti-corruption legislation, revise the Supervision Law to keep it updated, and take the opportunity of studying and implementing the newly-revised regulations on disciplinary punishment to carry out a discipline education campaign throughout the Party. Efforts should be made to strengthen oversight and inspection of the implementation of key regulations and systems to ensure that they are followed and implemented to the letter.

Xi noted that efforts should be intensified to punish bribe givers. Those who always lure officials with bribes to abuse of power and become the scourge of corruption must be investigated and strictly punished. Notice of typical cases must be circulated to ensure a correct understanding of the matter, and serve as a warning to the others. Efforts should be intensified to recover the illegitimate gains of bribe givers.

Xi stressed that unremitting efforts must be made to improve the political environment. Work must be done to not only eliminate vice but also exalt virtue. It is imperative to enforce strict political discipline and rules, conduct intraparty political activities in earnest, break tacit rules and give teeth to regulations. It is essential to resolutely fight against forming cliques as well as seeking political support through connections and establishing abnormal relations between higher-level officials and their subordinates. Political swindlers must be forcefully cracked down on, and steps must be taken to prohibit commodity trading rules from finding its way into the Party. Misconduct concerning selecting and recruiting officials must also be addressed unswervingly, so as to build a clean work relationship among colleagues, and between ranking officials and their subordinates, and develop a clean political atmosphere.

Xi noted that a culture of integrity in the new era must be promoted. In-depth education for enhancing Party consciousness, improving Party conduct and tightening Party discipline must be advanced, and the proud traditions and venerable conduct of the Party must be carried forward. Party members must be encouraged to aim high and pursue high, and regard abuse of power and corruption as a sheer disgrace. Attention must be paid to fostering stronger family ties, values and traditions, and leading officials must be urged to set strict rules for their relatives and children. Public awareness activities to promote the principle of integrity and cases of models in this regard are also required to foster public respect for integrity and bolster resistance to corruption.

Xi stressed that discipline inspection and supervision departments are an important force for advancing the Party's self-reform, and that they shoulder special political responsibilities and honorable missions, thus they must remain absolutely loyal, reliable and clean. Efforts should be made to consolidate and expand what has been achieved in the theoretical study program and further strengthen political loyalty. It is imperative to be of one mind with the Party Central Committee at all times and under all circumstances. It is essential to be more conscious of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment with the central Party leadership, strengthen our confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and firmly uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping's core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and uphold the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. These should be transformed into concrete actions in following the Party's commands and fulfilling our duties for the Party. It is essential to adhere to our principles, stand up to any wrongdoing, have the courage and ability to carry on our fight, and take responsibility in our efforts to steadfastly improve conduct, enforce discipline, and combat corruption, and thereby further promote the full and rigorous Party self-governance. We should strengthen the building of a team of disciplinary inspection and supervision personnel, regularly eliminate bad apples in the Party, resolutely prevent and address misdeeds taking place by our sides, and strive to be a model of self-reform and a benchmark for rule compliance. Thus we will forge a strong team of disciplinary inspection and supervision personnel which the Party Central Committee has confidence in and the people are satisfied with.

While chairing the meeting, Li Xi pointed out that General Secretary Xi's important speech has summarized the new progress and achievements in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance, profoundly elucidated the important thought on the Party's self-reform, offered sound answers to such crucial questions as why the Party needs to reform itself, why it can reform itself and how such self-reform should be carried out and promoted. The speech has put forward specific requirements for Party's self-reform and made strategic arrangements for sustained efforts in the fight against corruption. The visionary speech is broad in perspective, profound in thought, and rich in content, and it provides us with fundamental guidance for exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance, for improving conduct and building integrity, and for fighting against corruption on the new journey in the new era. It is necessary to thoroughly study and implement the important gist of General Secretary Xi's speech and his important thought on the Party's self-reform, firmly support the affirmation of Xi Jinping's core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the affirmation of the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping's core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, uphold the CPC Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership, and further strengthen the full and rigorous Party self-governance, and Party's self-reform, providing strong guarantees for promoting the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through a Chinese path to modernization.

Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, relevant leaders of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, state councilors, president of the Supreme People's Court, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, relevant leaders of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as well as members of the Central Military Commission attended the meeting.

Members of the CCDI, leading officials of central Party and government departments as well as people's organizations, and leading officials of relevant units in the military also participated in the meeting. The meeting was held via video and telephone, with sub-venues set up in various provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and relevant military units.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CCDI opened in Beijing on January 8. The Standing Committee of the CCDI presided over the meeting. On the afternoon of January 8, Li Xi, on behalf of the Standing Committee of the CCDI, delivered a work report titled "Thoroughly Studying and Implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Thought on the Party's Self-reform, and Further Promoting the High-Quality Development of Discipline Inspection and Supervision Work on the New Journey."