NPC Photo: VCG

Working Committee of the Central Party and State Institutions has issued the work rules for discipline inspection commissions of government departments and organs to strengthen the regulations on the disciplinary commissions, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the National Commission of Supervision announced on Tuesday. 

On the basis of implementing the common requirements of the Party Central Committee for discipline inspection at all levels, the regulations closely integrate the actual work of discipline inspection of the Central Party and State Institutions and provide comprehensive and fundamental guidelines for the nature, leadership system, operation, duties and tasks, and work procedures of disciplinary commissions.

According to CCDI, China's top anti-graft watchdog, the regulations are an institutional achievement to improve the system of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and improving the supervision system of the Party and the state. They are of great significance for disciplinary commissions to perform their supervision duties more accurately and effectively, further improve the standardization of the discipline inspection works.

From the perspective of the system reform and operation of China's entire discipline inspection and supervision system, the discipline inspection and supervision system within the Party and state organs is relatively weak, Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity-Building at Peking University, told the Global Times.

It is urgent to stipulate clearly the relevant operation system, work responsibilities and mechanism of the discipline inspection commissions of the Central Party and State Institutions through institutional means, he noted.

All departments of the central and state organs are required to improve the system of discipline inspection in accordance with the actual conditions, promote Party organizations and Party members to strictly implement, and strengthen the awareness of taking the initiative to carry out supervision and consciously accepting supervision.

A series of recent social incidents, including a sexting incident in a WeChat work group involving a local government department of Central China's Hunan Province which has sparked heated discussions online, reflect the urgency of working out a system that is beneficial for the discipline inspection commissions of government departments and organs to play their roles, according to Zhuang. 

In terms of anti-corruption, especially anti-corruption within the Party and state organs, the system will benefit strengthening the role of the disciplinary commissions, Zhuang said.