Fight against corruption a continuous endeavor: China Daily editorial

Since its first meeting in late October 2017, the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has intensified its fight against corruption to strengthen the Party's self-discipline, thereby contributing to the improvement of the national governance system and governance capacity.

The Party and the State have substantially improved their supervisory systems over the past three years and expedited the process of building an ironclad institutional mechanism to ensure power-holders dare not and can not abuse their power for personal, illegal gains.

The three-day fifth session of the 19th CCDI, which concludes on Sunday, looks set to advance the building of the institutional mechanism of the Communist Party of China to meet the fundamental requirements of the new development stage the country has entered after the eradication of absolute poverty.

A strengthened institutional mechanism will enable the CCDI's discipline inspection and supervisory departments at various levels across the country to more efficiently collaborate with one another to not only supervise Party members and civil servants, but also target corruption cases that are not restricted to a certain place or sector.

That the CCDI is determined to root out corruption is evident from the data for the first nine months of last year: 390,000 people were punished for corruption, including 18 minister-level, 1,989 mayor-level and about 14,000 county head-level officials. And in the 11 months to November, the watchdogs got 1,229 corruption suspects deported back to China, recovering 2.44 billion yuan ($378 million) from them.

Thanks to the determination of the Party's discipline watchdogs and the State supervisory authorities to eradicate corruption, many potentially corrupt officials have come to realize the anti-corruption campaign is not "a gust of wind" but a storm spelling their doom.

Yet corruption remains a serious threat to Party discipline, and the fight against corruption is still tough and complicated. Hence, the authorities need to intensify the fight to prevent old problems from resurging and new problems from emerging. Which means the advantage the Party has gained in the fight against graft should be sustained to achieve complete victory.

As Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said while addressing the CCDI session on Friday, discipline watchdogs should be alert to their own corruption, and corruption related to organized crime and embezzlement of poverty alleviation and social security funds, as well as misappropriation of funds earmarked to improve people's livelihoods.

The year 2021 is especially momentous in that it marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party, and signals the beginning of a new development stage for the country, so it is all the more important to strictly regulate the use of power in the Party's quest to build a modern socialist country.