Cleaning House
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Few Chinese political bodies generate headlines like the country’s top anti-graft commission， the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection （CCDI） of the Communist Party of China （CPC）. Even adding a new column of content to its website typically elicits a round of commentary and interpretation from the public.
On October 12， 2015， the CCDI posted an article on its website in which it criticized malpractice common in its own system， such as bureaucracy and dereliction of duty， claiming that the government watchdog， at all levels， is far from “pure.”
During the commission’s regular meeting at the end of September， Wang Qishan， China’s top graft-buster， told staff that cleaning up the CCDI is still a challenge for the national anti-corruption campaign， with some inspectors deliberately breaking regulations and even“seeking personal gains from handling cases.”
Dirty Dealings
According to CCDI statistics， more than 3，400 “discipline inspectors” nationwide received disciplinary penalties， a Party-specific punitive measure， since the anti-graft campaign began after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012. In January 2015， Huang Shuxian， CCDI deputy chief and head of the commission’s overseer， the Ministry of Supervision， told a conference that 1，575 inspectors were investigated and punished in 2014.
As the government ramped up its anti-corruption campaign， opportunities for discipline inspectors to bloat their salaries with bribes have only increased because of the growing number of officials under investigation. Some inspectors have shed the role of law enforcer and slipped into that of law breaker， violating the very regulations they are charged with upholding.
The CCDI itself has seen 14 discipline inspectors investigated and punished since 2002， including Wei Jian， former chief of the commission’s fourth discipline inspection and supervision office. Before taking a position at the CCDI， Wei worked as the deputy chief of the Hebei Provincial Higher People’s Court. His academic papers on the role of keeping confidential information about one’s career confidential were widely cited. He was transferred to a post at the CCDI in 2006 and became a chief inspector in 2008， charged with overseeing anti-graft operations in China’s southwestern provinces， including Sichuan. From left to right： four disgraced senior officials from the discipline watchdog， Cao Lixin， Wei Jian， Shen Weichen and Jin Daoming
According to media reports， Wang Qishan mentioned at an internal meeting that the CCDI had been investigating Li Chuncheng， former deputy Party secretary of Sichuan Province， for more than a year. Wang added that a senior CCDI official who supervised Sichuan had “divulged a secret” and spent several days by Li’s side during the disciplinary investigation.
On December 2， 2012， Li and his secretary were detained at Beijing Capital International Airport. An insider handling the case at the scene told NewsChina that when Li and his secretary were already in police custody， his secretary asked to use the restroom. Once inside， the secretary reportedly tried to destroy a bank card， but was stopped by police.
Li was the first ministerial-level official to be fired after the Party congress in 2012. Speculations abounded that the CCDI’s Wei Jian was involved in Li’s case， although authorities have yet to make that information public. At the same time the CCDI was investigating Li， Caijing magazine reported， Wei was allegedly sending secret information to Zhou Yongkang， China’s former domestic security chief who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June after being found guilty of corruption， abuse of power and leaking state secrets.
During a panel discussion with Sichuan Province deputies at the National People’s Congress in March 2014， Wang Qishan said the CCDI will tighten supervision of its own staff members and show zero tolerance in any instances of malpractice or law violations. Two weeks later， Wei Jian was investigated for serious violations of discipline regulations and laws， becoming the CCDI’s highest official to be removed from office since 2012.
Cao Lixin， another senior CCDI official， came under investigation 10 days later. Cao was mainly responsible for supervising China’s northern regions， including coal-rich Shanxi Province. Details of Cao’s disciplinary violations have yet to be released， but local media reported they are related to his work in Shanxi. In 2014， hundreds of that province’s government officials were investigated on suspicion of corruption and serious disciplinary violations. Of those， 170 were involved in a corruption scandal within Shanxi’s transportation department， a scheme in which Cao was also involved， Caijing reported.
To date， of the 14 senior CCDI officials who have been investigated， only Wei Jian’s and Cao Lixin’s information has been made public.
Measures
Throughout the ongoing anti-corruption campaign， the importance of supervising China’s supervisory agency has been reinforced by the country’s top leaders. During the second plenary session of the 18th CCDI in 2013， Xi Jinping asked： “Who is watching the CCDI？” One year later， Xi once again stated publicly that the country’s top discipline watchdog had a corruption problem. During its fifth plenary session in early 2015， Xi demanded that the whole discipline inspection system “clean house.”
In response to political pressure， the CCDI initiated its second round of institutional reform in March 2014. In a bid to root out internal corruption and strengthen supervision， the commission consolidated its six subdivisions and added three more， including a special branch targeting the supervision of inspectors. Chen Wenqing， former deputy head of the CCDI， said that the new office is home to 30 staff members， whose main responsibilities are dealing with reports and tips that cast suspicion of corruption on discipline and supervisory staff.
Chen emphasized that the new office was set up to practice selfsupervision， toughen enforcement and beef up punishments for those senior inspection staff members at the CCDI who have violated disciplinary regulations and laws.
Shortly thereafter， similar offices started springing up at local inspection watchdogs. A county-level anti-graft official， speaking on condition of anonymity， told NewsChina that staff members of one supervision office concentrating on employees at the county and city level have started work even though there is no official name yet on their office door. So far， staff members have been focusing mainly on monitoring day-to-day conduct， such as arriving to work late or leaving early.
In a recent seminar on the supervision of discipline inspectors， Wang Qishan elaborated on the purpose of adding the new office. He said it is meant to play a bigger role as a watchdog for both society and the public， in addition to internal supervision.
In April， the General Office of the CPC Central Committee released three guidelines recommending that anyone appointed as a discipline watchdog chief should have worked in several different posts before taking office， in order to avoid the corrupt behaviors that can emerge when officials have been working for too long in one specific place or department， such as nepotism or palm-greasing.
Public data has shown that from January to August 2014， the CCDI arranged for the transfer of 240 discipline inspectors， including 40 at the senior level. Some of the staff members who were not suitable for the job were later transferred to other departments. Two moves in the second half of 2015 stood out C Chen Xiaojiang， senior official at the Ministry of Water Resources， was given the position of CCDI publicity head， and Liu Jianchao， former chief spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs， took the position of CCDI international cooperation chief.
Another step by the CCDI to purge internal corruption is the ongoing development of a comprehensive information management system that will encompass the entire discipline watchdog apparatus， including its members at the county level. The CCDI will use this system to check the progress of cases at local offices. The local staff member interviewed by our reporter said that his office has already installed the online program necessary to implement the new information management system， and someone will be tasked with inputting data into the program once it is in use.
“With this new system， authorities at a higher level can look into the investigation process of each case and hold those discipline inspectors who violated regulations or broke the law accountable，” he told NewsChina.
During an inspection in Fujian Province in September， Wang Qishan pledged to speed up the development of the information management system. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and a pair of black cloth shoes at the time， in stark contrast with the other officials present who were dressed in more typical white-collared shirts and trousers.
“It is a fundamental rule to take discipline as the basic yardstick in each aspect of this work， including the handling of evidence， discipline supervision and case hearings，” he said.