China's ruling Communist Party yesterday issued a new set of regulations on fighting internal corruption, championing the rules as the embodiment of the party's effort to police itself without the need for democratic checks and balances or an open press.
Authorites also announced a fresh crackdown on unsafe mining operations
"The regulations attach great importance to carry forward democracy and strengthen supervision within the party, while safeguarding party unity and advancement," the People's Daily, the party mouthpiece, said.
State-controlled Xinhua News Agency said that it was the first time the party had openly published rules on fighting corruption within its ranks.
"Its promulgation means the party has decided to base its anti-corruption efforts on stringent disciplinary rules rather than some party leader's political will," the agency said.
The 47-article regulations, which is not legally binding by Chinese law, lays out a slew of rules on how to deal with supervisory issues within the 68 million member party, including the role of party leaders in discussing and listening to opinions of lower-level cadres.
The regulations also stipulate that the media would remain under party control when reporting on corruption or malfeance amongst the ruling elite.
"Under the leadership of the party, the news media will play a role in supervision [of the party] through public opinion in accordance with relevant regulations and procedures and after internal digression or public reports," it said. "The news media must support party principles."
According to Joseph Cheng (鄭宇碩), a leading China political analyst at the City University of Hong Kong, the rules further underscore the party's determination to confront corruption internally and not through democratic political reforms.
"The party has all along refused measures that will dilute the power of the party," Cheng said.
"They have been very slow in accepting supervision from the media or by investigation by the people's congress system [China's legislature], these regulations reflect this reluctance," he said.
According to Xinhua, official corruption has steadily increased as the party has overseen the 20-year shift from a planned Stalinist economy to a market-oriented economy.
The numbers of party members disciplined for corruption from 1992 to 1997 stood at 669,300 but increased by 26 percent to 846,150 between 1998 to 2002, it said.
"The corruption seedbed still exists and the country's corruption situation remains severe and the anti-corruption task remains arduous," Xinhua quoted President Hu Jintao (
Meanwhile, Beijing has announced a nationwide crackdown aimed at improving safety in its mines, schools and other public facilities after a pair of weekend fires killed 93 people.
The announcement late Tuesday adds to a string of campaigns by the government in recent years -- usually with little effect -- to reduce the carnage in factories and mines and on roads.
In the new campaign, local officials were ordered to "step up their measures ... to prevent any major accidents involving great human and property losses," Xinhua said.
Densely populated Jiangxi Province ordered coal mines to invest at least 6 yuan (US$0.72) in safety measures for each tonne of coal mined, Xinhua said.
Authorities plan to require factories and others to pay more compensation for injuries and deaths in order to give them an incentive to invest in safety, Xinhua said.
The report didn't give any other details of possible tighter safety rules or enforcement measures.
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