Chinese Party officials are prohibited from practicing religious activities after they retire, according to guidelines on strengthening and improving works related to retired Party officials released by the Party's Organization Department.

Retired Party officials are banned from practicing religion and attending religious activities; and they should unswervingly fight against cult organizations, read the guidelines which were published on the website of the State Council on Thursday.

In explaining the guidelines, the Organization Department, which is in charge of personnel assignments for the Communist Party of China (CPC), said that these rules are the first comprehensive document about work relating to senior Party officials released by the general offices of both the central government and the State Council since 1982, the year that established the retirement system for senior Party officials, and thus the rules are significant.

Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau, said covering senior officials is an important part of the Party's organization work. Under the new circumstances, work related to senior Party officials can only be and will only be strengthened, not weakened, according to the State Council's website.

Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, told the Global Times that issuing the guidelines was very timely and necessary.

Currently, retired Party officials often practice religion in cities. Meanwhile, retired Party officials at some ethnic minority regions including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Tibet also tend to practice religion, affected by the local environment, Zhu said.

"Their behaviors could result in a feeble and lax Party organization, undermine the Party unity, and may even lead to the collapse of the Party's combat capabilities," Zhu said.

In response to some foreign media's reports that said China denied Party members' freedom of belief, Zhu said that the Party members choose atheism based on their freedom of belief, and as citizens, they can turn to religion when they withdraw from the Party.

No religion is one of the six requirements for retired officials, which also include that they have to abide by Party discipline on giving lectures and going aboard and have to pay Party membership dues, according to the guidelines.

Cai Zhiqiang, a professor of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times that the guidelines highlighted that the Party discipline applies to all Party members no matter whether in office or not.

"The guidelines serve as a warning to retired Party officials who attend various activities during Spring Festival, similar to frequent pre-festival warnings on anti-corruption from China's disciplinary watchdogs," Cai said.