China on track to national supervision system

China is on track to establish a national supervision system which will oversee all public servants.

Details emerged as Wang Qishan, China's top graft-buster, joined deputies to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) and elaborated on what he calls "a major political reform."[Special coverage]

The Law on National Supervision, currently in the drafting process, will give the supervision commission the necessary investigative powers, said Wang, head of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

The new law will establish what Wang called "liu zhi" as "one means of investigation." That will probably mean giving the supervision commission the power to restrict a suspect's freedom of movement, and perhaps the ability to freeze assets, experts said.

A communique from a CCDI session in January said the supervisory system would integrate the functions of current supervision authorities, corruption prevention agencies, and departments handling bribery, dereliction of duty and prevention of duty-related crime.

PARTY SUPERVISES ITSELF AND STATE

The CCDI has been leading the anti-corruption campaign targeting CPC members.

The supervision commission will share personnel and offices with the CPC commissions for discipline inspection, achieving a unified supervision system. The system covers beyond CPC members.

Beijing Municipality and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces are the first three to pilot this major reform of anti-corruption system.

"The pilot work is running smoothly and we will continue to study specific issues and accumulate material for national legislation," Minister of Supervision Yang Xiaodu told reporters during the annual session of the NPC.

The pilot work will see the establishment of local supervisory commissions at three levels -- province, city and county -- in order to form an integrated system that is "unified, authoritative and efficient."

The goal of the new system is the CPC's unified leadership of anti-corruption work, Wang said.

"The CPC will not only enhance supervision of itself, but also supervise the state apparatus." he said.

PARTY LEADS EVERYTHING

In the context of Chinese history, government has always been understood in a broad fashion to shoulder unlimited responsibilities, Wang said.

Organs of the CPC, the National People's Congress, the administrative authorities and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as well as the courts and procuratorates, are all "government" in the eyes of the Chinese people, Wang said.

"Under the CPC leadership, the Party and the state have different responsibilities but are not separate from one another, and we should be clear-cut and self-confident about that," Wang said.

"Within the Party, the government, the army, the people, academics, and east, west, south, north, center -- the Party leads everything," said Wang, repeating a remark made at a CPC meeting last year that has become familiar to many.

FOLLOWING XI

An overhaul of the supervision regime is critical to ensuring that officials "dare not, will not and cannot" be corrupt.

"The spread of corruption has been effectively contained and the battle against corruption has gained crushing momentum," Xi Jinping said in January.

"The objective of ensuring officials do not dare to be corrupt has been basically achieved," Xi said at the same time, concluding that a new atmosphere is emerging in the Party.

"To comprehensively strengthen Party discipline, one should be good at seeking answers from the important speeches of General Secretary Xi Jinping," said Wang.