Speakers:
Officials of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.
Chairperson:
Jiang Jianguo, Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee
Date:
Oct. 28, 2016
Chairperson Jiang Jianguo, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee:
Ladies, gentlemen and friends from the media, good afternoon! Welcome to the press conference held by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee on the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. The sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing from Oct. 24 to 27. The meeting approved two documents on the discipline of the Party. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping delivered two important speeches. The communique released yesterday concentrated on the important achievements of this plenary session. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, our Party has successively held the third, fourth and fifth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, and made plans for comprehensively deepening reform, comprehensively implementing the rule of law and comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society. The plenary session of this time had a special study of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. This is a strategic decision with an overall design made by the CPC Central Committee with a view to the strategic layout of the "Four Comprehensives." This is the gradual carrying out and further pushing forward of the CPC Central Committee's governance policy. This is the need to deepen the comprehensive strengthening of the Party discipline. This is the need of our Party to carry out a great struggle, to advance a great project, to accomplish a great task and to achieve a great goal. The plenary session has drawn world-wide attention. In order to help domestic and foreign media have a better understanding of the spirit of the plenary session, today we have invited officials from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee to elaborate on the plenary session, interpret "Norms of Political Life Within the Party under the New Situation" and "Regulation on Supervision Within the Communist Party of China" and answer your questions. The officials attending today's press conference include Wu Yuliang, deputy chief of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Qi Yu, vice minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and Huang Kunming, executive vice minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. Now, Mr. Huang Kunming will give us an introduction and overview of the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and the main arrangement for the study and publicity of the spirit of the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.
Huang Kunming, executive vice minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee:
Good afternoon! The sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee is of tremendous and far-reaching significance to our Party and country. The guiding principle and major achievement of the session have been specified in concentrated form in the communique. I will mainly introduce the following aspects. First, General Secretary Xi Jinping addressed the session. The speech has reviewed and summed up the work of the Party and the government since the fifth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, scientifically analyzed the development of the international situation, China's conditions and Party conditions, profoundly interpreted the significance of being strict with discipline, a series of major theories and practical problems on building, invigorating, governing and running the Party, discussed such major issues as regulating the political life within the Party and enhancing the Party supervision within the Party under new circumstances, set clear demands for the Party's and the country's various tasks and proposed a series of creative new thoughts, ideas and assertions. All of these represent a scientific guide and program of actions for creating a new method for being strict with discipline in an all-round way and improving undertakings of our Party and country. Second, the session deliberated and adopted two documents regarding the discipline of the Party, including the Norms and the Regulation. Third, a resolution on convening the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress was deliberated and passed at the sixth plenary session. The 19th CPC National Congress will be held in Beijing during the second half of 2017. To study, implement and disseminate the guiding principle of the sixth plenary session is the important political task of the whole Party and nation at present and in the coming period, and the Party Central Committee issued a special opinion concerning the arrangement of the task. Taking the concerns of international community and media into account, we will introduce the spirit of the sixth plenary session in a complete, accurate, pointed way, to allow the international community to understand China and the Chinese Communist Party in a more overall and deeper way. So much for my remarks for now. Thank you all.
Jiang Jianguo:
Thanks for your introduction, Executive Vice Minister Huang Kunming. Now let's give the floor to Vice Minister Qi Yu to talk about the Norms as well as the details and progress of the Party organization and its team building efforts.
Qi Yu, vice minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee:
Nice to meet you. The sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has just passed the Norms. My introduction will focus on this document.
The plenum sets a new standard because, firstly, it's necessary for completing the "Four Comprehensives" strategy. Coordinating and promoting the "Four Comprehensives" strategy is a new governance guideline decided by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as its core. The 3rd, 4th and 5th plenary meetings of the 18th CPC Central Committee have already discussed comprehensively deepening reform, comprehensively ruling by law and comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society. The 6th plenum addressed the topic of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party by formulating the Norms and the Regulation. Thus, the each of the "Four Comprehensives" strategy has been researched and deployed during a previous plenum, which is the CPC's holistic design.
The second is the demand to deepen comprehensively strictly governing the Party. The sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, on the basis of in-depth summarization of the actual practices of comprehensively strictly governing the Party since the 18th CPC National Congress, carefully analyzed the new conditions and new issues regarding the construction of the Party in the new situation, and accordingly made new institutional arrangements for strengthening and standardizing the political life within the Party.
The third is the demand for solving prominent conflicts and problems existing in the Party. In the long-term, the condition of the Party's political life has remained sound in general, although some conflicts and problems have surfaced in recently. As for dealing with these issues, the Party has taken a series of new measures since the 18th CPC National Congress, which have led to noticeable improvements in the Party's political ecosystem. To consolidate the positive trend of comprehensively strictly governing the Party, effectively suppressing the rebound and relapse of problems already solved in the past, and preventing new conflicts and problems from emerging and spreading, we must adhere to the unity of constructing the Party based on ideological principles and governing the Party with institutional regulations, perfect standards and consolidate the system.
To formulate the Norms is to carry forward the CPC's fine traditions and valuable experience and to implement the new concepts, philosophies and strategies put forward by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core. The Norms follows the Party Constitution as its fundamental basis and formulates systematic standards for the political life within the Party under new circumstances. The Norms is composed of three parts with 12 chapters.
The first part is the preface. It explains the vital roles and historical experience of the political life within the Party, existing problems, circumstances and tasks the Party faces and the importance and immediacy of strengthening and regulating the political life within the Party under new circumstances. It also puts forward the goals and requirements of strengthening and regulating the political life within the Party.
The second part is the main body. It puts forward 12 aspects regarding the specific requirements and detailed provisions of strengthening and regulating the political life within the Party, including holding firm to ideals and beliefs, sticking to the CPC's basic guidelines, upholding the authority of the CPC Central Committee, straightening out political disciplines, keeping in close touch with the people, sticking to the principle of democratic centralism, developing intra-Party democracy and safeguarding Party members' rights, adhering to correct guidance in appointing talent, strengthening the CPC's organizational system, practicing criticism and self-criticism, strengthening control over and supervision of the exercise of power and upholding political cleanness and integrity.
The third part is the conclusion. It is mainly about strengthening the Party's leadership and supervision and high-level officials taking the lead in setting examples to make sure every task is implemented. The Norms puts forward over 160 new major ideas and measures. The promulgation of the Norms is an important milestone in the history of Party building and will surely exert far-reaching influence on the accomplishment of the CPC's governance missions and goals. I will stop here. Thank you!
Jiang Jianguo:
Thank you, Mr. Qi Yu. Next, we invite Mr. Wu Yuliang, deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to introduce the Regulation and relevant work about the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, discipline construction and strengthening supervision within the Party.
Wu Yuliang, deputy secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection:
Good afternoon. I'd like to give a brief introduction to the amendment of the Regulation. First, I'd like to talk about the background for the amendment. Leadership by the Party is the essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To successfully handle China's affairs lies in the party, supervision within the Party and the strict governance of the Party.
Over the years, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to supervision within the Party and made remarkable achievements through successful measures. However, we have also noticed that some new problems have emerged, which are exemplified in a weakening Party leadership, lack of Party construction and loose governance of the Party in some localities and departments. Some Party members and officials have a faint awareness of the Party. There are problems of poor organization and lax discipline. The Party discipline is not strictly implemented.
After the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has insisted on rectifying Party conduct, strictly enforcing political discipline and rules by addressing both the root cause and symptoms, making persistent efforts to fight formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, preventing the spread of corruption and resolutely building a system that ensures officials dare not, will not and cannot be corrupt. Through those efforts, the political ecosystem inside the Party has been improved. The measures have won extensive support from the whole Party and all of society. To ensure comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, we must address the problems at the root: negligence of main responsibility and insufficient supervision within the Party. We should make strengthening supervision within the Party a fundamental project of high significance with regards to Party construction, and give a full play to the political advantages of the Party.
General Secretary Xi Jinping made clear requirements on improving the supervision system within the Party at the fifth and sixth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. He clarified the nature, position, effect, mechanisms and measures of supervision within the Party, setting the direction for the revision of the Regulation. In consideration of all factors, the CPC Central Committee decided to include the revision of the Regulation into the major issues of the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.
Next, I'd like to brief you on the Regulation's major contents. The revision of the Regulation abided by the Party Constitution, and comprehensively implemented the spirit of a series of important speeches made by General Secretary Xi Jinping. An intra-Party supervision system was built with the focus on theories, thoughts and mechanisms. Mechanisms were designed with the focus on power, responsibility and the assumption of responsibilities.
First, we stuck to the Party's leadership and underlined the assumption of responsibilities. Leadership work involves education, management and supervision. When taking the leadership, we must also take up the responsibility of maintaining supervision. We need to ensure that those who are in power also bear responsibilities; those who bear responsibilities conscientiously fulfill their responsibilities; those who use power are under strict supervision; and those who fail to fulfill their responsibilities are held accountable.
Second, we focused on solving problems. We didn't crave big achievements, but tried to solve problems confronting us and make the solutions more practical.
Third, we insisted that trust is not a substitute of supervision. We stressed that there is no no-go area and no exception in intra-Party supervision. We also focused on leading officials, who are few in number but play a crucial role. The Party's leading organs and leading officials, especially major leading officials, are the major targets of supervision.
Fourth, we stuck to democratic centralism. We strengthened the downward organization structure and supervision methods, improved the upward democratic supervision, allowed mutual supervision at the same level, insisted on the integration of intra-Party supervision and external supervision, regulated the interaction of intra-Party supervision and other supervision methods, and formed synergy between law-based governance and rule-based Party discipline.
Fifth, we strived for pragmatic and efficient approaches, focusing on their necessity and feasibility. Based on the experiences from previous practices, we devised practical solutions.
The Regulation consists of eight chapters and 47 articles, which can be divided into three sections.
The first chapter "General Principles," including nine articles, is the first section. It mainly clarifies the aim and foundations of the Regulation, explains the guiding thoughts, the fundamental principles, the work, targets, methods of supervision and a series of important issues, including the strengthening of self-supervision and the building of the supervision system within the Party.
The 27 articles from Chapter Two to Chapter Five constitute the second section, which is the major part of the Regulation. The four chapters respectively stipulate rules on the responsibilities and relevant mechanisms concerning the four supervision subjects - the Party's central organs, Party committees (leading Party groups), discipline inspection organs and the Party's grassroots organizations and Party members. The supervision system within the Party has been set up. Under the unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the comprehensive supervision of Party committees (leading Party groups), the special supervision of discipline inspection organs, the work-related supervision of the functional departments of Party committees, the routine supervision of grassroots organizations, and the democratic supervision of Party members. In particular, one chapter is devoted specially to the supervision of the Party's central organs. This is a major change to the previous Regulation, indicating the CPC Central Committee's determination to set an example for organs at lower levels.
The third section includes the last three chapters, including the supplementary provisions. The 11 articles address the integration, improvement and guarantee of intra-Party supervision and external supervision.
