Boxes of confiscated liquor are arranged to create the Chinese character for "corruption" at an anti-corruption exhibition in Qingzhen, Guizhou Province. Photo: Guizhou City News

Fu Zhenghua

Ahead of a key meeting of the top Party discipline authority, which is scheduled to kick off on Monday, the downfall of three more senior officials and the release of a new documentary featuring the ex-justice minister Fu Zhenghua and his corruption clique signaled the Party's determination and perseverance in fighting corruption in the new journey after the 20th CPC National Congress.

The second plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China is set to be held from Monday to Wednesday, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

This session is believed to be of indicative significance to the construction of the Party's conduct and integrity, and it is expected to offer an answer on how to implement the anti-corruption instructions made during the 20th Party Congress in October 2022, experts said.

Before the session, the first anti-corruption blockbuster since the 20th CPC National Congress was aired Saturday by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), with the first episode revealing the ex-justice minister Fu Zhenghua and his corruption clique led by ex-vice public security minister Sun Lijun, which has drawn wide attention.

Fu, 67, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes worth more than 117 million yuan ($16.5 million) and bending the law for personal gains, according to a ruling by the Intermediate People's Court of Changchun in Northeast China's Jilin Province last September.

From 2005 to 2021, Fu took advantage of his positions, including those as head of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, vice minister of public security, minister of justice and deputy head of the Committee on Social and Legal Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, to provide convenience to institutes and individuals in company operation, position adjustment and handling of cases, through which Fu took bribes either directly or through relatives, said the court.

The documentary noted that Fu has completely abandoned his ideals and beliefs and completely lost the principle of Party spirit, and his political ambition was extremely inflated, his political conduct was extremely despicable, and he always achieved personal political ends by any means.

Driven by his abnormal desire for power, Fu engaged in political attachment, joined the clique led by Sun and became an important member of Sun's political gang, according to the documentary. Fu admitted in the documentary that his obedience to Sun was actually a situation of using each other.

Fu and Sun formed a coalition for personal gain, so that the Party's political and organizational leadership over public security and political and legal work was suspended, which in essence was to undermine the centralized and unified leadership of the Party and the authority of the CPC Central Committee, Li Yonghong, a senior discipline official, said in the documentary.

The four-episode TV special, co-produced by the Publicity Department of the CCDI and the CCTV, is scheduled to be aired from Saturday to Tuesday. 

A total of 12 cases were selected to tell the story of the CPC's perseverance in promoting comprehensive and strict Party governance and leading a social revolution with the Party's self-revolution under new historical conditions.

On January 2, the top CPC discipline authority released an article stating that in the past year, 32 centrally administered officials were announced to be under investigation and 37 were punished. Less than three months after the 20th CPC National Congress, 10 had been sacked and three punished.
 
On Friday, the CCDI website released information on the investigation of three senior officials, showing the non-stop efforts against corruption. The officials are Ji Binchang, former chairman of the Qingdao Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, He Zehua, former deputy chief of China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and Wang Xuefeng, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Hebei Province.

 After a decade into the Party's anti-corruption campaign, both the intensive corruption crackdown and the release of the new documentary  after the 20th CPC National Congress demonstrated the Party's strong resolve and firm will to deepen the comprehensive and strict governance, and to fight corruption and punish evil with zero tolerance, Zhuang Deshui, a deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity-Building at Peking University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

 The expert believes the upcoming key discipline session will detail how to comprehensively govern the Party with strict disciplines and fight against corruption with zero tolerance in the new journey.

 Also, improving the related system will be one of the priorities in the next stage of the fight against corruption. For example the related system of laws and regulations as well as the supervision system of the Party and the state are expected to be improved, Zhuang said.