Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues concerning Persevering with Full and Rigorous Party Self-Governance

 Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues concerning Persevering with Full and Rigorous Party Self-Governance

(Adopted at the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on October 29, 2026)

At its fifth plenary session, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) reviewed the great achievements made and valuable experience gained in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era, and analyzed the circumstances and tasks at present and in the near future regarding how to supervise, govern, develop, and strengthen the Party. On this basis, the following resolution has been adopted. 

I. Importance, Urgency, and Overall Requirements of Persevering with Full and Rigorous Self-Governance

1. The Communist Party of China was created for the people and has thrived because of the people. Founded at a time when the survival of the nation was at stake, the Party has grown stronger as it strives for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It has united and led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in achieving great successes in the new-democratic revolution, in socialist revolution and development, in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, and in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Party has written the most magnificent chapter in the millennia-long history of the Chinese nation, presenting itself to the world as a confident, robust Marxist party.

The reason why the Party has achieved one victory after another is that it has cherished the high ideal of communism, dedicated itself to achieving lasting greatness for the Chinese nation, and remained committed to seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. It is also because during each historical period, the Party has attached great importance to its self-supervision and self-governance, had the courage to uphold truth and correct errors, and grown ever stronger by relying on its own efforts and the support of the people to resolve its own problems, thus becoming the strong leadership core in the cause of the Party and the people.

The Party advanced Party building as a great project and then a great new project in the periods of revolution, development, and reform, and it has made further progress in this regard in the new era since its 18th National Congress. During this course, the Party has found two answers to the question of how to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall: the people’s oversight over government and the Party’s self-reform. These are the unique discoveries of the Communist Party of China, and they will forever stand out in the history of Marxist parties.

2. Following the Party’s 18th National Congress, the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core demonstrated tremendous political courage and a strong sense of responsibility in confronting the grave situation marked by weak, hollow, and watered-down Party leadership, lax, superficial, and ineffective self-supervision and self-governance, as well as a number of egregious problems within the Party. Staying firmly committed to full and rigorous Party self-governance, the Central Committee introduced stringent measures and made continuous efforts to tackle these prominent issues. As a result, the problem of lax and weak self-supervision and self-governance has been addressed at its root, unhealthy tendencies that had long gone unchecked have been curbed, deep-seated problems that had plagued the Party for years have been remedied, and serious dangers hidden within the Party, the state, and the military have been removed. The Party has thus grown stronger through revolutionary tempering.

Thanks to these efforts, we have significantly strengthened the Party’s overall leadership and the centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee, reinforced the solidarity and unity of the Party, and secured great cohesion within the Party and the military and among the people. We have achieved a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times and continued to arm Party members with the Party’s theories, enhancing the whole Party’s understanding of Marxism. With the Party’s organizational line for the new era effectively implemented, the functions of Party organizations at all levels have been bolstered on the whole, the overall quality of Party members and officials has been improved, and the Party’s organizational strength has come to the fore.

As the central Party leadership’s eight-point decision on improving work conduct began to show its teeth as ironclad discipline, we intensified efforts to rectify pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance (the four malpractices) while promoting sound practices. As a result, Party, government, and social conduct have all taken on an entirely new look. Steady progress has been made in strengthening Party discipline, leading to more rigorous rules and reinforcing the role of discipline as a guide, restraint, guarantee, and incentive. We have combated corruption with unprecedented intensity and produced universally recognized results, successfully blazing a distinctive Chinese path of anti-corruption. The framework of Party regulations and institutions has been further improved, with their authority and enforcement substantially enhanced, resulting in better-conceived, more institutionalized, and more procedure-based supervision and governance over the Party. With a growing awareness of self-supervision and self-governance, Party organizations at all levels have taken concrete and effective measures to fulfill their responsibilities, forming synergy through cross-level coordination and joint efforts on all sides.

The endeavors to advance full and rigorous governance over the Party in the new era have broken new ground in the self-reform of our century-old Party and brought about historic achievements and transformations in the cause of the Party and the country. The Party and the people have thus seized the historic initiative in building a great party and a great country.

In the new era, we have made great achievements in supervising, governing, developing, and strengthening the Party and opened up new horizons for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We owe all of this to the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, which has been at the helm charting the course, and to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which has provided sound guidance to our cause.

We have established Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This represents a major political achievement the Party has made in the new era, and it is of decisive significance for the cause of the Party and the country in this new era and for advancing the historic process of national rejuvenation.

As the Party endeavors to supervise, govern, develop, and strengthen itself in the new era, the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has put forward a series of new ideas, new thinking, and new strategies in response to the major questions of our times—what kind of long-term governing Marxist party we should build and how we should build it. This has culminated in Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. This thought is a further enrichment and development based on Marxist theory on party founding, and it represents a major achievement in advancing the Party’s theoretical innovation through the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and fine traditional culture. It stands as a crystallization of the practical experience and collective wisdom of the Party and the people. As an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, it provides fundamental principles and a guide to action for further advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era.

3. Advancing full and rigorous self-governance as an unceasing endeavor

Through long-term efforts, especially our tenacious work in the new era, China’s economic strength, scientific and technological capabilities, national defense capabilities, composite national strength, and international influence have all increased significantly, and the country’s system and capacity for governance have been remarkably modernized. The Chinese people of all ethnic groups have become more confident, self-reliant, and capable of self-improvement; our endeavors to build a great modern socialist country now enjoy more solid material foundations, more robust institutional safeguards, and a source of inspiration for taking greater initiative; and tremendous positive energy has been gathered through the Party’s efforts to supervise, govern, develop, and strengthen itself. All this indicates that many favorable conditions are now in place for advancing full and rigorous Party self-governance. At the same time, we must be keenly aware that, as global, national, and Party conditions undergo profound changes, we are facing many new developments and new issues in this endeavor.

Internationally, momentous changes of a magnitude not seen in a century are unfolding across the world at a faster pace. Breakthroughs are accelerating in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, while a profound shift is taking place in the international balance of power amid the collective rise of the Global South. Unilateralism and protectionism are mounting, hegemonism and power politics pose greater threats, geopolitical conflicts and local wars show no signs of end, and global economic growth lacks momentum. As global challenges arise one after another and the world enters a new period of turbulence and transformation, uncertainties and unforeseeable factors are increasing in our country’s external environment. All this has made the Party’s task of uniting and leading the people in safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests even more formidable.

Domestically, our country’s development has entered a critical period as we work to reinforce the foundations and push ahead on all fronts toward basically realizing socialist modernization. Development imbalances and inadequacies remain prominent, and demographic structure, social groups, and the pattern of interests are undergoing continuous shifts. With the rapid advances in digital, networking, and intelligent technologies, modes of production, ways of life, and forms of organization have become more diversified across society, while various ideas and values interact and collide with one another. Many new challenges have emerged in further deepening reform comprehensively, promoting high-quality development, strengthening social development and governance, ensuring both development and security, and stimulating and boosting the vitality of our society. All this has made the Party’s task of uniting and leading the people in promoting reform and development and in maintaining social harmony and stability even more formidable.

Within the Party, membership is undergoing structural changes, with a steady increase in the proportion of members and officials born after the launch of reform and opening up in 1978. This has raised new requirements for education and management. The vast majority of Party members are exemplary, but the problems of defects in thinking, organization, and conduct have yet to be solved root and branch. The caliber and competence of some members and officials have not kept up with the evolving times. A small number of members and officials, including high-ranking officials, are performing poorly in upholding the Party spirit, wavering in or even losing their ideals and convictions; some are indifferent to the people and hold incorrect views of performance, indulging in a culture of pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance; and some lack a fighting spirit, shirk their responsibilities or duties, and refuse to abide by discipline and rules, even going so far as to abuse power for personal gain, engage in corruption, and sink into immorality.

At the same time, some primary-level Party organizations have failed to effectively perform their political and organizational functions, sometimes even becoming weak and lax. In some sectors, especially emerging sectors, the coverage of Party organizations is not comprehensive enough and their work not effective enough. Some Party organizations and leading officials failed to adequately understand the importance of Party self-supervision and self-governance, fulfill responsibilities, carry out their work effectively, or enforce rules and regulations strictly. They cannot identify prominent problems as they arise or address them through effective measures, and some even leave unhealthy tendencies to grow and spread. All this has made the Party’s task of maintaining its advanced nature and integrity even more formidable.

These new developments and issues have posed great challenges to the Party’s governance and leadership capacity, the quality of its membership, and its resistance against corruption and moral decline under the new circumstances. The Party is confronted with the protracted, complicated, and daunting task of dealing with the tests in governance, reform and opening up, the market economy, and the external environment, as well as the dangers of a lack of drive, incompetence, disengagement from the people, and inaction and corruption. Tackling these unique challenges that a large party like ours faces, therefore, calls for more arduous efforts. The long-term governance by the Party, the enduring peace China enjoys, and the complicated situations we face make it all the more important for us to be ever ready to protect against potential dangers in time of peace and make our Party more competent and stronger.

All of us in the Party must gain a deep understanding of the great significance of persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance from the strategic perspective of consolidating the Party’s long-term governing position and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We must build firm confidence, maintain resolve, and adopt higher standards and more concrete measures to carry forward the valuable experience of full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era, handle and resolve the prominent problems in Party building, and consolidate and develop the sound political situation formed through Party self-supervision and self-governance.

4. Guiding philosophy for persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance

We must uphold Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and thoroughly study and apply Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building.

Dedicated to fulfilling the Party’s missions and tasks, we must act in line with the overall requirements for Party building in the new era, take the Party Constitution as our fundamental guide, maintain the Party’s vanguard nature, and uphold the overall leadership of the Party and the centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee.

We must focus on enhancing the Party’s capacity for long-term governance, preserving its advanced nature and integrity, and maintaining its close bond with the people. We will unwaveringly apply strict principles, improve the system of exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance, and take strengthening the Party politically as the overarching principle to advance Party building on all fronts.

We must stimulate greater motivation, initiative, and creativity within the whole Party, continue working to purify, improve, renew, and excel ourselves, and constantly strengthen the Party’s capacity for providing political leadership, giving theoretical guidance, organizing the people, and inspiring society.

We will see that the Party always remains a vibrant Marxist governing party that stays at the forefront of the times, enjoys the wholehearted support of the people, and is able to withstand all tests, and that it always remains the strong leadership core in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

5. Guiding principles for persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance

—Serve the Party’s missions and tasks. Staying true to the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, we should plan out and advance Party building efforts within the overall context of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, so that such efforts are fully aligned with the cause of the Party and the country and always focus on the central task and serve the overall interests.

—Take strengthening the Party politically as the overarching principle. We must uphold and strengthen the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, ensure that every aspect of Party building advances in the right political direction and meets political requirements, and enhance the political competence of Party organizations at all levels as well as Party members and officials. All this will help us ensure that the whole Party is closely aligned with the Central Committee and enjoys greater solidarity and unity.

—Exercise rigorous governance across the board. We should enhance systems thinking and ensure strict principles, measures, and atmosphere in every aspect and all stages of Party building, putting in genuine, bold, and constant efforts to supervise the Party rigorously.

—Adopt a problem-oriented approach. We should focus on addressing prominent problems within the Party, never evading or concealing issues, and improve our work by correcting deviations, addressing irregularities, and promoting healthy practices.

—Uphold fundamental principles and break new ground. We must adhere to the Party’s basic theory, basic line, and basic policy, follow the laws underlying the development of a Marxist governing party, and draw on the historical experience of Party building. In doing so, we will continue to put forward new measures and new methods in light of evolving circumstances and tasks.

—Adhere to a top-down approach. Starting from the Central Committee, leading organs and officials should be strict with themselves, with each level setting an example for and leading the efforts of the next level below, so that leading officials, the “key few,” play an exemplary and inspiring role for the “vast majority” of Party members.

—Run the Party through regulations. We should incorporate institutional building into all aspects of Party self-governance and place great emphasis on using institutions to keep power, affairs, and personnel in check. We will strictly enforce the Party Constitution, regulations, and discipline and make our work more efficient through a complete framework of Party regulations and institutions that is well-conceived, procedure-based, and effectively functioning.

All of these principles are based on a systematic review of our experience in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era, and they must be upheld over the long term and continually enriched and developed.

II. Strengthening the Party Spirit of Communists

Strengthening the Party spirit represents a fundamental task in our efforts to ensure full and rigorous Party self-governance. We must, therefore, encourage all Party members and officials to uphold the Party’s nature and purpose, to raise their Party consciousness and have a better understanding of their identity as Party members and the Party’s vanguard nature, and to maintain a lifelong commitment to cultivating stronger Party spirit. We must also encourage them to remain committed to strengthening ideals and convictions, forging strong loyalty to the Party, fostering a deep affection for the people, always seeking truth from facts, building moral character, and preserving honesty and integrity. These efforts will help them to be loyal, upright, and responsible and always maintain the true political character of communists.

1. Strengthening education on loyalty to the Party

We must prioritize loyalty to the Party in cultivating the Party spirit. Education and guidance should be provided for Party members and officials so that they will:

Ÿ   acquire a deep understanding of the decisive significance of establishing Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and of establishing the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; become more conscious of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment with the central Party leadership; remain confident in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics; uphold Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and uphold the Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership; and always closely follow the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in thinking, stance, and action;

Ÿ   reinforce their faith in Marxism, their conviction in communism, and their confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics to ensure deep and steadfast devotion;

Ÿ   enhance their capacity for political judgment, understanding, and implementation; consciously align their thinking with the Central Committee’s analysis and judgment of circumstances and tasks; fully and faithfully execute its decisions and plans; and resolutely fight against any statements or actions that repudiate leadership of the Party or the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, that go against the Party’s theories, lines, principles, and policies, and that undermine national unity or ethnic solidarity;

Ÿ   love, stand for, protect, and work for the Party; trust, rely on, and defer to the Party organization and willingly accept its supervision and oversight; speak the truth, do honest work, and be genuine; and have a broad mind and an open heart and match their deeds to words;

Ÿ   put the people and our cause first, work hard for the Party and the people, and remain dedicated to work and ready to make sacrifices.

We will strictly enforce the Party’s political discipline and political rules and clean up the political environment within the Party. We will never allow anyone to commit the following seven types of misconduct: engaging in cronyism and ostracizing those outside of their circle; forming self-serving cliques; anonymously lodging false accusations or fabricating rumors; seeking to buy popular support and rig elections in their own favor; promising official posts and lavishing praise on each other for their promotions; doing things their own way and feigning compliance with policies while acting counter to them; and getting too big for their boots and making presumptuous comments on the decisions of the Central Committee.

We will resolutely oppose disregard of rules in thinking, opportunism in politics, factionalism in organization, departmentalism in work, and unprincipled nice-guyism in accountability. We will accurately identify and resolutely remove double dealers from the ranks of our Party.

2. Building cohesion and inner strength with the Party’s new theories

We will intensify efforts to build the Party into a Marxist party of learning, take the study, comprehension, and application of the Party’s new theories as the fundamental approach to cultivating stronger Party spirit, and help all Party members use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to achieve unity in thinking, will, and action.

We will thoroughly study and apply Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. We will diversify the means of theoretical study and education and highlight the Party’s new theories as the major course in the education and training of Party members and officials. We will guide them in reading the original works, studying the original texts, and comprehending the principles to grasp the stances, viewpoints, and methods and appreciate the sagacity and nobility therein. While seeking to transform the objective world, they must also work to remold their subjective world, consolidating the foundation of their ideals, tempering their political character, and resolving the fundamental question of what kind of worldview, outlook on life, and values they should embrace.

We will promote a Marxist style of learning and encourage Party members and officials to consciously deepen theoretical study by integrating theory with the practices of their respective regions, departments, or organizations and with their own thinking and actual work. We will also encourage them to utilize the Party’s new theories to analyze and resolve practical problems, putting into practice what they have learned and acting on their beliefs. High-ranking Party officials should conduct themselves according to the standards required of Marxist statesmen, hold firm belief in the Party’s new theories in their lifetime, and be able to master and apply them with dexterity.

We will uphold and improve the top-of-the-agenda system. We will work to improve the quality of theoretical study within the theoretical study groups of Party committees (leading Party members groups) and within primary-level Party organizations. We will develop new approaches to implementing the project to study and develop Marxist theory and enhance systematic and academic research and interpretation of the Party’s new theories. We will also redouble efforts to develop the disciplines of Party history and Party building.

3. Nurturing the Party spirit with the Party’s good traditions and fine traditional Chinese culture

We will intensify education on the history of the Party, the People’s Republic of China, reform and opening up, and the development of socialism, and carry forward the long line of inspiring principles for Chinese communists that originated with the great founding spirit of the Party. We will guide Party members and officials to gain a deeper understanding of the Party’s major achievements and historical experience over the past century, promoting its exemplary conduct, passing on the traditions of revolution, keeping the spirit of communists alive, and preserving communist values.

We will tap into the moral principles embedded in fine traditional Chinese culture, such as valuing loyalty and honesty, honoring moral integrity, cultivating a sense of honor and shame, remaining restrained and cautious, and emphasizing self-examination, and use these principles to strengthen education on political ethics. We will guide Party members and officials to make a genuine commitment to the greater good, public morality, and personal integrity; to foster a deep dedication to both the family and the country; and to build a strong sense of righteousness to resist the temptations of power, money, and sex.

We will encourage Party members and officials to take the lead in cultivating a habit of reading and learning. We will strengthen and improve theoretical and political work under the new circumstances to make it more targeted and effective. We will step up publicity and education on the Party spirit. We will leverage the instrumental role of Party schools (academies of governance) and executive leadership academies in providing Party spirit education and improve their curriculums.

4. Tempering the Party spirit in practice

We will encourage Party members and officials to temper their Party spirit in the course of implementing the Party Central Committee’s decisions and plans, tackling urgent, difficult, dangerous, or demanding tasks, and responding to major challenges; and to hone their Party spirit in the handling of relationships between right and wrong, public and private interests, and gain and loss.

We will make the most of intraparty political life as a great melting pot in helping temper the Party spirit of our members. We will work to ensure that the code of conduct for intraparty political life is put into action, that the tools of criticism and self-criticism are effectively utilized, and that intraparty activities become more politically oriented, up-to-date, principled, and effective. We will enrich the content and forms of regular Party organization activities and enhance the quality of meetings of Party members in leadership positions, regular meetings of the Party organization, Party branch general meetings, Party branch committee meetings, Party group meetings, Party lectures, and themed Party activities. We will ensure that Party members in leadership positions participate in both their own leadership team meetings and the regular activities of the Party organization.

Party members and officials should have the courage to reveal and correct shortcomings and mistakes and fight against all unhealthy practices. We are opposed to any attempts to simply play safe or avoid offending anyone. We will uphold unity based on the commitment to the Party spirit and guard against keeping on good terms with everyone at the expense of principle. We will give full play to the exemplary role of role models, inspiring Party members and officials to learn from them and strive for excellence.

Furthermore, we will encourage Party members and officials to do better in analyzing their Party spirit, carrying out regular self-examination and reflection on their compliance with the Party Constitution, regulations, and discipline as well as the oath of admission to the Party, in order to clean up their act, purify their mind, remove negative influence, and build up immunity. We will continue to carry out both intensive and regular education, with a focus on addressing prominent problems in upholding the Party spirit.

5. Enhancing Party spirit appraisal

We will make the Party spirit an important criterion in the examination of officials and the democratic assessment of Party members, focusing on sizing up and assessing their realm of mind as well as loyalty and integrity.

We will improve the mechanisms for organization departments to communicate with discipline inspection and supervision organs, inspection-tour agencies, audit offices, and departments handling public complaints and proposals, so as to facilitate comprehensive analysis and assessment of the members of leadership teams, candidates for promotion, and young officials regarding the Party spirit.

In assessing the Party spirit of our members and officials, particular attention should be paid to their performance in coping with challenges, managing risks, overcoming difficulties, and resolving problems; to their daily work, words and deeds, social interactions, family education, and family values; and to the evaluations from their superiors and peers, the feedback from their subordinates, and the comments from ordinary people. Party spirit appraisal results will be put to effective use in selecting and promoting officials and assessing performance for exemplary work.

III. Strictly Practicing Democratic Centralism

Democratic centralism is the Party’s fundamental organizational principle and leadership system. Its implementation is therefore an inherent requirement for exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance. We must improve and implement the institutions of democratic centralism, giving full play to intraparty democracy while effectively practicing correct centralism. This will allow us to better draw on the political, organizational, institutional, and working strengths of democratic centralism.

1. Upholding and strengthening the Party Central Committee’s centralized, unified leadership

We must follow the principle that individual Party members defer to Party organizations, the minority defers to the majority, lower-level organizations defer to higher-level organizations, and all organizations and members of the Party defer to the National Congress and the Central Committee of the Party.

We will improve the institutions and mechanisms for upholding the Party Central Committee’s centralized, unified leadership to ensure Party-wide compliance with its orders and prohibitions. We will refine the mechanisms for implementing the Central Committee’s major decisions and plans and strengthen follow-up supervision as well as quality and effectiveness evaluation. We will work to see strict compliance with the system of requesting instructions from and submitting reports to the Party Central Committee.

Further progress will be achieved in making political oversight concrete, targeted, and regular, with the focus of oversight on the implementation of the Central Committee’s major decisions and plans. During this process, we should promptly identify and address any ineffective or distorted implementation, while guarding against and rectifying over-the-top praise and veiled disparagement.

2. Improving the efficacy of intraparty democracy

We must uphold and improve the systems for exercising intraparty democracy, respect the principal position of Party members, and safeguard their democratic rights. We will see that the systems for Party congress delegates across all levels to play their role are implemented and that meetings of Party committees, their standing committees, and leading Party members groups become more productive.

The Party’s work must be carried out in accordance with the democratic principles and procedures set forth in the Party Constitution and regulations, and no leading officials may treat the work, sectors, and regions under their charge as their own private territory or place themselves above the Party organization.

We will keep channels open for Party members to participate in the discussion of Party affairs while providing them with more avenues to express their opinions. Systems for information briefing and report submitting within the Party will be improved as well. Inside the Party, we will maintain a comradely relationship with each other based on democracy and equality, foster an atmosphere favorable for democratic discussion, and encourage and support everyone to tell the truth and speak their minds. No comrades should be suppressed, ostracized, or retaliated against for holding differing views.

3. Strictly implementing deliberation rules and decision-making procedures for leadership teams

We must ensure combination of collective leadership with respective responsibility of individuals and guarantee sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making. Decisions on all major issues must be made through group discussion in accordance with the principles of collective leadership, democratic centralism, pre-meeting contemplation, and meeting-based decision-making.

To this end, we will refine the deliberation rules and decision-making procedures for Party committees (leading Party members groups). In regard to major decisions, we will strengthen prior investigations and studies, rationality evaluation, and risk assessment, and no decision shall be forced when major differences of opinion arise on key issues. We will step up the compliance and legality review for major decisions, while refining the mechanisms for overseeing major decisions, important appointments and dismissals, key project plans, and use of large funds.

Leading officials must comply with the Party organization’s decisions and its arrangements on the division of work, fulfilling their responsibilities within the scope of their duties in accordance with guidelines of the Party Central Committee and decisions that have been made collectively. They should fully express their opinions while discussing matters and see things through once the decision is made.

We must firmly oppose and guard against arbitrary decision-making or anyone going their own way; discussion with no decisions, decisions with no action, and action with no results; and collective rule breaking or responsibility shirking in the name of collective decision-making by Party committees (leading Party members groups). When making important decisions affecting lower-level Party organizations, higher-level Party organizations should in general solicit the opinions of lower-level Party organizations beforehand. We will also improve the lifelong accountability system for major decisions made by leading officials.

4. Regulating leadership team heads’ performance of duties and exercise of power

We will work to see that institutions and regulations for strengthening oversight of leadership teams and their heads are effectively implemented. In selecting and appointing a leadership team head, emphasis should be placed on assessing candidates’ readiness and ability to practice democratic centralism. We will improve the mechanisms for applying checks on the exercise of power by leadership teams, clearly define the duties and powers of their heads, and put into full practice the system whereby the head is the last to express opinions.

In making decisions, special meetings of Party committee secretaries may not substitute for the meetings of Party committees’ standing committees. Party committee (leading Party members group) secretaries must practice democracy, paying heed to differing opinions and treating minority views with a proper attitude. They must resist dictatorial and paternalistic styles of work. When a matter is to be deliberated collectively, leadership team heads may not overstep their authority to push their individual views; they may not replace collective decisions of the leadership team with their own opinions, arbitrarily alter collective decisions, or demand that those at subordinate levels uphold their personal authority.

We will implement the system for leadership team heads to report on their performance in managing and supervising lower-level organizations’ leadership team heads, as well as the system for Party committees (leading Party members groups) to hold talks with lower-level Party organizations’ leadership team heads to conduct oversight.

We will also improve the institutions and mechanisms for peer oversight. Members of leadership teams should fulfill their political responsibility for upholding democratic centralism and strengthen mutual oversight. Upon discovery of problems involving the leadership team head, they should raise them frankly to the head and, if the problems are serious, report to the higher-level Party organization.

IV. Cultivating High-Caliber Officials Capable of Shouldering the Mission of National Rejuvenation

Strict management of officials is the key to full and rigorous governance over the Party. We must implement the Party’s organizational line for the new era and apply stringent standards to the education, cultivation, selection, appointment, management, and oversight of officials. With this, we will build a contingent of high-caliber officials with firm political commitment, outstanding professional competence, excellent work conduct, and strict discipline.

1. Following sound guidelines in appointing officials

We must adhere to the principle of the Party supervising officials; select officials on the basis of both integrity and ability, with greater weight given to integrity, and on the basis of merit regardless of background; and ensure that those who put the Party’s cause first and are impartial and upright get promoted.

Applying the criteria for competent officials in the new era, we will work all out to select and appoint those who are loyal to the Party, consistent in their thinking and action, highly responsible, outstanding in their performance, honest, and upright. Under no circumstances should we select those who fear difficulties and evade responsibilities, are lazy on the job, or work superficially. Additionally, we must resolutely remove from our ranks those who lack loyalty to the Party, feign compliance, or abuse power for personal gain.

2. Taking targeted, well-designed measures to select and appoint officials

We must act in full compliance with the principles and procedures for selecting and appointing officials. We will follow the principles that candidates are selected by the organization department, that officials are appointed fairly, and that selections are made in light of practical needs, with the Party organization playing its role in exercising leadership and final oversight.

We will work to improve the assessment of officials, strengthening regular evaluations and thoroughly appraising their political competence. In assessing officials, we should pay attention to their everyday behavior, place great emphasis on their performance at important junctures or critical moments, observe how they conduct themselves in the face of challenges, conflicts, difficulties, unhealthy tendencies, the temptation of benefits, and major changes to their position, and examine their willingness and ability to perform their duties and shoulder heavy responsibilities. We should assess officials on a broader scope—visiting the regions or organizations where they used to work, learning about their close contacts and social connections, and making good use of the results of inspection tours, audit, and oversight.

We should select and appoint officials in strict accordance with position requirements, so that the right officials are placed in the right posts. In line with the principle of ensuring overall competence of both individuals and the team with its composition based on its functions, we should work to see that strong and capable leadership teams, especially their heads, are put in place at all levels.

While working to see that officials span all age groups—senior, middle-aged, and young—and that coordinated efforts are made to bring the roles of all officials into full play, we should also pay attention to cultivating and appointing female officials, ethnic minority officials, and non-CPC officials. Meanwhile, we should refrain from taking age, education, or seniority as the only criteria for selecting officials, and avoid over-emphasizing the composition of the team to the neglect of its individual members’ competence, or valuing officials’ educational background and work experience while ignoring their practical ability. We should also guard against appointing officials in breach of rules or lowering standards for the sake of filling vacancies. Efforts should also be made to discover and select outstanding officials from the primary level.

We will refine the system of recusal and the practice of regular rotations and exchanges regarding official positions. We will improve and implement the tenure system for leading officials, and strictly implement the policies for maintaining stability over a term of office to prevent both frequent turnover in a post and frequent transfers of a single official.

We will strengthen the analysis and assessment of leadership teams and leading officials, make ongoing efforts to ensure that leading officials can be demoted as well as promoted, and do more to replace those who are no longer fit for their posts.

It is essential that before their promotion, candidates’ personal files are reviewed, their reports on personal information verified, opinions on them from discipline inspection and supervision organs solicited, and any specific, traceable reports as to their possible violations of Party regulations and discipline investigated. We will work to see full implementation of the regulation requiring both Party committee (leading Party members group) secretaries and discipline inspection commission secretaries (dispatched discipline inspection and supervision team leaders) to sign the appraisal regarding the candidates’ integrity in work. We will improve and implement the systems for candidates to report on personal information prior to their appointment, for recording the whole process of selecting and appointing officials, and for making annual reports and democratic appraisals regarding officials’ selection and appointment.

We will strengthen special inspections on the selection and appointment of officials and improve the mechanisms for holding to account those responsible for promoting officials with a record of poor conduct. We will take resolute action against misconduct in the appointment of officials, strictly prohibiting backroom deals and cronyism, firmly eliminating self-serving cliques, and rigorously investigating and punishing behavior such as jockeying for promotions, buying or selling official posts, and rigging elections through bribery.

3. Inspiring officials to foster and act on the correct view of performance

Efforts will be intensified to help officials foster the correct view of performance, guiding them in upholding the Party’s commitment to serving the public good, advancing the people’s wellbeing, ensuring sound decision-making, and delivering through solid work. In this way, they will be able to make concrete achievements that stand up in practice, in the eyes of the people, and over the course of time.

To fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, we will improve the assessment of officials’ performance in promoting high-quality development, taking into account both personal conduct and work performance, and both existing assessment results and pre-appointment evaluations. In this process, we will thoroughly examine and analyze their performance in both pursuing reform and development and ensuring the people’s wellbeing and security, both advancing present work and addressing longstanding issues, and both producing tangible results and laying intangible groundwork.

We will adjust as necessary lists of main issues arising from misguided views of performance and develop effective mechanisms to guard against and rectify such misguided views. We will continue to address problems such as new officials ignoring obligations undertaken by predecessors, seeking quick success and instant benefit, conducting fraudulent activities, engaging in rash and reckless behavior, making unrealistic decisions in disregard of public will, undertaking vanity and showcase projects, flip-flopping on policies and plans, incurring new hidden local government debt in violation of regulations, and overlooking security in the pursuit of development. Efforts will also be stepped up to address problems of officials failing to fulfill their duties or acting arbitrarily. The handover system for the heads of leadership teams will be improved.

4. Enhancing officials’ competence in fulfilling their duties and breaking new ground

We will provide officials with more opportunities to refine their thinking, gain political experience, hone their skills in practice, and receive professional training, so that they become more capable of advancing high-quality development, serving the people, guarding against and defusing risks, and applying law-based thinking and approaches in their work, while building stronger fighting spirit and ability.

We will encourage officials, especially leading officials, to carry out in-depth research to help them develop plans, solve problems, and improve their work in light of actual conditions. We will support them in updating their knowledge quickly, enhancing their professional competence, and shoring up weaknesses in ability to become highly proficient in fulfilling their duties. We will also encourage them to sum up practical experience and grasp the underlying patterns, thereby making their work more principled, systematic, forward-looking, and creative.

5. Improving the training and selection of outstanding young officials

We will improve the regular working mechanisms for training and selecting promising young officials. We will strengthen their political training and tempering to help them reinforce their convictions and replenish the mental nourishment they need to stay on the right path. With primary-level positions serving as a basic training platform, young officials will be encouraged to work in areas with harsh conditions or complex circumstances and take up demanding posts in order to build character, improve conduct, and hone their skills.

Giving equal weight to training and management, we will guide the healthy growth of young officials to see they defer to the arrangements of their organizations, dedicate themselves to hard work, and refrain from pursuing impetuous, unrealistic ambitions or taking self-contrived career shortcuts. More guidance will be provided for their growth by following their performance in engaging in theoretical study, participating in intraparty political activities, taking on responsibilities, working under pressure, and observing rules and discipline. Practices such as forcing premature advancement must be prevented and corrected.

6. Strengthening management and oversight of officials

Starting with high-ranking officials, we will tighten all-around management and regular oversight of officials, imposing strict requirements throughout their career and across the whole process of their education, management, and oversight to avoid over-emphasizing selection to the neglect of management.

The system requiring leading officials to report personal information will be refined. Those with family property and spending far exceeding their normal incomes will be examined, and relevant verifications will be carried out. Regular management will be tightened for the commercial and entrepreneurial activities of leading officials’ spouses, children, and their children’s spouses. Dedicated efforts will be intensified to address nepotism.

We will strengthen management and oversight of personnel recruitment. We will regulate practices involving officials who take up part-time work, are assigned to temporary posts, or start new jobs after leaving public office, while guarding against and addressing cases of resignation or early retirement aimed at escaping punishment for violating Party discipline or state laws. Management and oversight of retired officials will also be tightened.

Party organizations and leading officials at all levels must have the courage and resolve to carry out strict supervision; they must not knowingly let officials’ erroneous remarks and actions go unaddressed, or even cover up for them. Regulations on the management and oversight of officials will be formulated.

We should be strict with and also care for our officials, and place equal emphasis on providing incentives and imposing constraints. We will improve the mechanisms for encouraging and protecting responsible and enterprising officials, giving support to those who assume responsibilities and do solid work. The system for having candid talks with officials will be fully implemented to gain an up-to-date understanding of their thoughts, work progress, physical and mental health, and family conditions, which will allow us to provide more targeted education and guidance for them. We will strengthen and improve our work related to civil servants, fully utilizing institutional incentives such as salary and benefits based on both positions and ranks and refining the mechanisms for commendation and reward. We will work to see full implementation of policies designed to provide support and care for those working on the ground.

Upholding the principle of the Party managing talent, we will provide better political guidance for them and create more opportunities for their political participation. We will deepen institutional reforms to facilitate talent development, advance integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent, and promote the training, recruitment, and utilization of talented people across the board. We will ramp up support and services for talent and encourage them to love the Party, dedicate themselves to the country, contribute to its cause, and serve the people, bringing together the brightest minds from all fields to advance the cause of the Party and the people.

The system for Party committees to engage with and serve experts will be put into full practice, and working mechanisms will be refined to enable leading officials to stay in contact with experts and provide services they need. We will encourage talent with Party membership to lead by example in pursuing breakthroughs in research, cultivating younger generations, promoting unity and teamwork, upholding academic integrity, and adhering to scientific and technological ethics. We will oppose academic misconduct, such as fraudulence and plagiarism, and discourage unhealthy tendencies toward seeking quick success and instant benefit or getting frivolous and pretentious in academic work. We will also address problems associated with honorary titles for talent and eliminate the practices of over-emphasizing seniority, forming self-serving factions, and acting as scholar-tyrants. 

V. Building a Well-Knit Organizational System Characterized by Cross-Level Alignment and Effective Implementation

Party organizations at all levels play the principal role in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance. It is therefore essential to systematically advance the development of Party organizations at all levels and in all sectors to strengthen their political and organizational functions. This will help ensure that the Party’s lines, principles, and policies and the Central Committee’s decisions and plans are implemented through well-coordinated, targeted, and effective efforts.

1. Giving play to the exemplary role of Party organizations of central Party and state organs

To strengthen the role of central Party and state organs as political institutions, we will guide their Party organizations at all levels as well as their Party members and officials to stay at the forefront of this endeavor and set a good example in thoroughly studying and applying Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, in closely following the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and in resolutely implementing all of the Party Central Committee’s decisions and plans. In doing so, these organs will build themselves into models of political integrity, discipline, responsibility, and efficiency.

We will promote Party building initiatives in central Party and state organs to drive progress across all institutions of the same category, while combining their supervision over respective sectors with Party building efforts. As part of this, we will improve the mechanisms for simultaneously advancing Party building in these organs, in the enterprises and public institutions directly under them, and in their dispatched offices. We will continue to develop Party branches with a strong political function, a strong leadership team, a strong contingent of members, and a strong role to play.

We will promote deeper integration of Party building initiatives with professional work, devoting continuous efforts to addressing the issue of disconnection between the two. We must do everything possible to avoid bureaucratic styles of work and other maladies of government conduct, and guard against “darkness under the lamp”—the danger of being blind to one’s own problems.

2. Bolstering the functions of local Party committees

Local Party committees must, in their respective localities, assume the role of exercising overall leadership and coordinating the efforts of all sides, and fulfill their duties of charting the course, keeping the bigger picture in mind, making decisions, and ensuring implementation. They should turn themselves into staunch organizations that resolutely follow the command of the Central Committee and are able to ensure effective implementation, strict management, leadership team cohesion, and an atmosphere of integrity.

We will encourage and provide support for local Party committees to apply the guiding principles of the Central Committee in light of actual conditions and carry out their work creatively. We will work to ensure that the standing committees of local Party committees build strong leadership teams, enforce strict discipline over Party members, conduct political “health checks” on a regular basis, and enhance their ability to identify and resolve their own problems. The regulations on the work of local Party committees will be revised, and the deliberative and coordinating bodies of these committees will be standardized.

3. Taking coordinated steps to improve primary-level Party organizations across all sectors

With a clear focus on reinforcing Party organizations at the primary level, we will place equal emphasis on addressing weaknesses and filling gaps on the one hand and improving quality and bolstering functions on the other. These measures will help primary-level Party organizations play a key role in ensuring effective exercise of the Party’s leadership.

We will continue to promote all-around rural revitalization through Party building initiatives, which include strengthening town and township Party committees and village Party organizations, improving the training and management of village officials, and optimizing the dispatch and management of first secretaries and work teams stationed in villages. Solid efforts will be made to strengthen Party building in hollowed-out villages.

We will improve Party building in urban sub-districts and communities by establishing robust Party organizations in residential communities and exploring new models for enhancing coordination between residents’ committees, homeowners’ committees, and property service enterprises under the leadership of community Party organizations. Party organizations in super-large communities will also be strengthened. We will advance Party building in development zones and industrial parks as well as at the primary level in border areas.

We will better guide efforts to conduct community-level governance and strengthen primary-level governments through Party building, continue to apply and develop the Fengqiao model in the new era, and refine the Party organization-led urban and rural community governance system that combines self-governance, the rule of law, and the rule of virtue. Other measures include the integration and improvement of grid-based governance and services, the effective utilization of public service centers of the Party, and the creation of more channels for law-based, well-ordered participation of primary-level organizations and ordinary people in the governance of their communities.

Party building will be improved across the board in Party and state institutions as well as in their affiliated organizations and industries. We will refine the systems and mechanisms for Party leadership in public institutions, and advance Party building in schools, hospitals, and research institutes. We will strengthen Party leadership in state-owned enterprises and state-owned financial enterprises, and bolster the role of Party committees (leading Party members groups) in conducting substantive review of major operational and management matters through ex-ante study and discussion, with a view to improving corporate governance and enhancing the quality and effectiveness of their Party building efforts.

In order to straighten out weak and lax Party organizations at the primary level, we will carry out both intensive and regular initiatives. Greater efforts will be made to cultivate, select, educate, and train heads of primary-level Party organizations. We will channel more resources, services, as well as management and policy support to the primary level and improve working conditions there. We will ensure that Party building endeavors guide the development of people’s organizations, seeing that these organizations fully play their role as a bridge connecting the Party and the people.

4. Promoting Party building in emerging sectors

Management and responsibility systems for Party building in emerging sectors will be improved by category to ensure that industry regulatory and business supervisory departments, business administrative authorities, and local governments fulfill their respective responsibilities. In doing so, we will enhance the Party’s capacity to inspire, rally, and influence in these sectors.

In new types of economic and social organizations and among groups in new forms of employment, the coverage of Party organizations and Party work will be further expanded. Capable secretaries will be put in place in Party organizations, and competent personnel will be sent to provide guidance on Party building. These efforts will contribute to the effective combination of Party building initiatives with production and operations, innovation and entrepreneurship, social services, and community-level governance.

Party building efforts will be consolidated and enhanced in non-public businesses, advanced on a per-category basis in mixed-ownership enterprises, and bolstered in platform companies and innovative high-tech firms. A dynamic adjustment mechanism for higher-level management of Party organizations in internet companies will be established. All this will help ensure the fulfillment of Party building responsibilities.

Categorized guidance on Party building will be provided to new types of social organizations. To strengthen industry self-discipline through Party building initiatives, the management systems and operational mechanisms for trade associations, academic societies, and chambers of commerce will be refined and Party building requirements will be incorporated in their charters across the board.

Due attention will be given to Party building in private schools and hospitals. We will improve Party building among groups in new forms of employment, strengthening theoretical and political guidance, providing better services and management, and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests. With this, we will inspire people in these groups to heed the Party’s call and follow its lead.

5. Building a strong contingent of Party members

In admitting new Party members, evaluation of candidates’ political integrity takes priority. It is essential to closely follow standard procedures, apply stringent criteria, and observe a strict code of discipline, so as to ensure that only those who are qualified join the Party while people with impure motives are not admitted. We will emphasize recruiting new members from young people, industrial workers, farmers, and intellectuals, pay particular attention to admitting qualified members from emerging sectors, and work to improve the composition of Party membership.

We will better educate and manage Party members and provide them with regular training, especially basic training. We will see to it that Party branches fulfill their responsibilities in directly educating, managing, and overseeing their members. We will better regulate the online behavior of Party members. The registration and acceptance of Party members among the floating population will be conducted on a regular basis, with relevant systems being refined to coordinate the management of such members by their previous and current Party organizations through both online and offline means.

Among Party members, we will promote good practices such as assigning clear duties to those with no specific positions, making and delivering on promises, setting up taskforces to deal with emergencies, and standing out and playing a pioneering role when needed. We will also improve and put into effect the mechanisms for Party members to play their roles whether online or offline, on duty or off duty, and in normal or emergency circumstances. Mechanisms for providing incentives, care, and assistance for Party members will be refined. We will rigorously yet prudently handle Party members who do not measure up to standards.

6. Refining mechanisms to ensure alignment across different levels of Party organizations

It is essential to develop a sound working mechanism to ensure that plans made by higher-level Party organizations are handed down and put into action, situations on the ground are reported to higher-level Party organizations, and conflicts and problems are resolved through coordinated efforts.

We will improve the system for Party building work that combines local management with vertical management, so that all departments and localities work in concert, fulfill their respective responsibilities, and maintain close alignment. Higher-level Party organizations will provide more guidance on Party building to lower-level Party organizations, and successful practices will be summarized and promoted. We will work to ensure that secretaries of Party committees (leading Party members groups) report on their performance in advancing primary-level Party building and are subject to assessment thereof.

We will build up the ranks of Party affairs workers, staff Party organizations with adequate and competent personnel, and provide necessary support. We will work to see that Party organizations fulfill their own duties while inspiring lower-level organizations to follow suit, so as to ensure concrete implementation efforts at every level. Through these efforts, we will promote the all-around progress of Party organizations at all levels and strengthen their competence across the board, while avoiding vacuums of responsibility or shifting of blame. 

VI. Improving Conduct and Tightening Discipline on an Ongoing Basis

     Improving conduct and tightening discipline are effective measures to advance full and rigorous Party self-governance. We must work in concert to enhance the Party spirit, build good Party conduct, and enforce strict Party discipline, integrating efforts to improve conduct and enforce discipline with anti-corruption measures. We will fully leverage the experience gained in advancing full and rigorous self-governance by targeting conduct issues to further improve conduct, supervise and govern the Party with strict discipline, and build cohesion and strength with a positive image.

1. Following the Party’s mass line in the new era

We will continue to raise awareness of the Marxist viewpoint on the people and the Party’s mass line and guide Party members and officials in attaining a stronger sense of the Party’s fundamental purpose and sense of service to the people, so that they stand firmly with the people and strengthen their bond with them instead of standing aloof and becoming detached from them. We will also guide Party members and officials in grasping the features of and the laws governing the work of engaging with the people in the new era and see that they reach out to the people regularly, listen to their opinions with an open mind, and work earnestly to address the pressing difficulties and problems that concern them most. They should enhance their capacity to fulfill duties and resolve problems by rallying the people, educate, guide, and lead the people forward while serving them, and at the same time, prevent and overcome overbearing commandism and passive tailism.

The system of soliciting public opinion on major decisions related to people’s wellbeing will be fully implemented. We will promote the practices of leading officials going into communities to communicate the Party’s lines, principles, and policies, carry out research and studies, address people’s complaints, and handle matters on-site. The system for Party members and officials to engage with and serve the people directly will also be implemented.

We will encourage Party members and officials to lead the way in participating in volunteer services and provide paired assistance. Sustained efforts will be made to handle complaints and proposals concerning public wellbeing. To strengthen online engagement with the public, Party organizations should enhance their capacity to organize, communicate with, rally, and serve the people through the internet, and Party members and officials should also hone their skills for online public outreach.

2. Steadfastly implementing the guiding principles from the central Party leadership’s eight-point decision on improving work conduct

The central Party leadership’s eight-point decision on improving work conduct is a hard-and-fast rule that must be followed in the long run. We will consolidate and build on what we have achieved in the study campaign for fully implementing the guiding principles from the eight-point decision, while also refining and enforcing the detailed rules for implementing the decision. We will continue to rectify pointless formalities and bureaucratism, resolutely guard against recurrences of hedonism and extravagance, and act with firm resolve to root out privilege-seeking mindsets and behavior.

We will continue to streamline meetings, documents, and written materials and make them shorter, more substantive, and full of new ideas, so as to improve our meeting culture and writing styles. Party and government leading officials will not be allowed to publish their books without the approval of their organization. The regulations on official overseas visits of leading officials must be strictly observed, and no such visits shall be arranged as a benefit.

In our efforts to further rectify pointless formalities to reduce burden on those working on the ground, we will take the following measures: ensuring that supervision, inspection, and evaluation activities are better coordinated and regulated; regulating demonstration initiatives, standards inspections, evaluations, and commendations; overhauling and regulating festival celebrations, expositions, exhibitions, and forums; rectifying pointless formalities on digital platforms; implementing the lists of duties for town, township, and urban sub-district governments; and refining the system for matters delegated to villages and urban communities.

We will continue to address prominent problems such as banqueting and giving or receiving gifts and money in violation of regulations and other forms of misconduct that harms the people’s interests. We must practice thrift and oppose waste, require Party and government organs to tighten their belts, strictly control spending on official overseas visits, official vehicles, and official hospitality, and impose rigorous restrictions on the construction of new office buildings.

We will also keep a close watch on the new developments and new manifestations of unhealthy tendencies and guard against and address them whether hidden or in disguise.

3. Devoting consistent and sustained efforts to improving conduct

       We will make conduct building part of our daily work, guard against perfunctory behavior or loss of drive, and correct the misguided views of downplaying misconduct as a minor personal issue or justifying it on the pretext of exception.

We will refine the mechanisms for constantly identifying and resolving problems of misconduct, with more efforts devoted to analyzing, assessing, and taking targeted measures against prominent problems involving the four malpractices.

We will work to address prevalent and recurrent misconduct specific to certain regions, sectors, and stages of development. Focusing on key junctures, we will enhance oversight and inspection, strictly investigate and punish those defiantly violating discipline, and expose typical cases.

Competent authorities should assume their responsibilities for supervising work conduct in their respective sectors, strengthening dynamic analysis and effective regulation. Particular attention will be paid to cultivating professional integrity and good conduct among teachers, medical workers, and artists, and more efforts will be put into addressing the four malpractices within state-owned enterprises, state-owned financial enterprises, and local branches of organizations under vertical management. Enterprise-related law enforcement and judicial administration will also be better regulated.

We will continue to investigate and address both misconduct and corruption. While digging deep into problems behind the four malpractices, such as forming self-serving cliques, exploiting social connections for personal gain, and illicit transfer of benefits, we will thoroughly investigate misconduct involved in corruption cases.

In addressing the four malpractices, we will put equal emphasis on promoting healthy practices and ensure that fine Party and government conduct guides the whole of society in pursuing excellence and goodness.

       4. Making discipline enforcement more rigorous

       We will impose rigorous requirements throughout the formulation of Party regulations, education on Party discipline, discipline enforcement, and oversight. Following the principle that Party discipline must be observed and strictly enforced and all violators must be held accountable, we will investigate every case discovered and show zero tolerance for discipline violations.

We will strictly enforce the Party’s political discipline and rules and use them to prompt stricter observance of organizational discipline and discipline regarding integrity, the public, work, and life. We will refine disciplinary regulations, with priority given to key fields, weak links, and gray areas.

Upholding the principle that Party discipline is stricter than the law and precedes the law, we will work to ensure close integration of discipline and law enforcement and their effective coordination with the judicial system. We must discover problems early and correct them when they are nascent, and early signs and unfavorable tendencies must be promptly reminded of and rectified to prevent them from growing into serious problems.

We will strengthen oversight and inspection over discipline enforcement to push Party organizations at all levels to strictly enforce and maintain discipline. Cases of lax discipline enforcement or even willful ignorance of violations must be sternly dealt with.

5. Making full use of discipline as a guide, restraint, guarantee, and incentive

We will establish sound mechanisms for carrying out regular, long-term discipline education, incorporating the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline into education and training programs for every Party member and official. We will guide them in studying, understanding, and observing discipline and readily subjecting themselves to oversight and constraints in both work and life.

We will enhance discipline education throughout Party members’ career life, giving them extra reminders at each important moment, including joining the Party, taking office, experiencing position changes or changes in family circumstances, leaving office, and entering retirement.

We will clarify the specific disciplinary rules, laws, and regulations that Party members and officials should command based on the duty requirements for different positions, ranks, and sectors. We will provide proper disciplinary training for key groups such as newly promoted officials, officials in key positions, and young officials.

In keeping with the principle of learning from mistakes to prevent recurrence and treating the illness to save the patient, we will make better use of the four forms of oversight over discipline compliance,* with priority given to the first form. These multiple layers of preventive measures will enable us to educate and save our Party members and officials to the greatest extent possible.

Acting on the basis of the facts and in accordance with Party regulations, discipline, and the law, we will incorporate theoretical and political work into the whole process of enforcing discipline and ensuring accountability. This will make our efforts more procedure-based and precise, thus delivering results of political, disciplinary, legal, and social significance.

We will both enforce strict discipline and care for Party members and officials, and encourage them to pursue reform and innovation and strive for success within the boundaries of regulations and discipline. We will take stern action to investigate and punish false accusations and frame-ups, and clear names for those affected in a timely manner. We will also carry out follow-up visits, education, and management of Party members and officials who have undergone disciplinary actions or penalties. 

VII. Taking Firm and Integrated Action against Corruption

 Taking integrated steps to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to commit corruption is both an important policy for full and rigorous Party self-governance and a fundamental principle for our fight against corruption. The Party tolerates no corruption, as it has no special interests of its own besides the interests of the working class and the greatest possible majority of the people. Keeping this firmly in mind, we must steadfastly follow a distinctive Chinese path of anti-corruption and strengthen the Party Central Committee’s centralized, unified leadership over anti-corruption work. We must place greater emphasis on addressing both symptoms and root causes and taking systematic action against corruption. With a holistic approach that combines severe punishment, targeted remedies, and effective prevention, we will carry the fight against corruption through to the end.

1. Maintaining a tough stance against corruption

We must be fully aware that our fight against corruption remains grave and complex and that we still face formidable tasks in eradicating the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption. Therefore, we must ensure that every instance of corruption is investigated and punished and that this evil is uprooted in its entirety. We will take firm action to “take out tigers,” “swat flies,” and “hunt down foxes,” punishing corrupt officials of all types. We will maintain our strategic resolve and fighting tenacity in this regard, not letting up even for a moment and not yielding even an inch. We will take more forceful action to curb new cases, while adopting more effective measures to root out existing ones, and we will never allow corrupt officials to find a safe haven or have the privilege to escape punishment.

Focusing on key sectors, major issues, and main targets, we will intensify efforts to fight corruption in sectors with a high concentration of power, funds, or resources. In particular, we will investigate and deal with cases involving both political and economic issues, collusion between government officials and businesspeople, and capital penetrating into the political domain, as well as corruption cases that have entailed various risks. We will crack down hard on corruption of the “key few,” especially officials in top posts, and young officials, and take stern action against corruption committed by leading officials’ families and staff. We will also resolutely remove all corrupt officials who behave unscrupulously without restraint.

We will redouble efforts to investigate new and disguised forms of corruption such as receiving returns later for abusing one’s power for the beneficiaries, reaping benefits from assets under the name of bribe givers or a third party, the “white glove” or agents concealing corruption activities in ostensibly legal forms, and the “revolving door” phenomenon of bureaucrat-merchant collusion after officials’ retirement. We will also resolutely combat corruption committed via the internet, virtual currency, cross-border capital, and blockchain.

We will make consistent efforts to address misconduct and corruption directly affecting the people. Focusing on issues related to employment, elderly care, social security, housing, education, healthcare, agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents, we will rigorously investigate and prosecute those who engage in embezzlement, misappropriation, retention, diversion, and fraudulent claims of public funds, and extortion and exploitation of the people; strictly punish low-ranking corrupt officials like “flies” and “termites”; and continue to combat and root out criminal gangs and their protective umbrellas and patronage networks.

We will promote international anti-corruption cooperation, step up efforts to pursue fugitives, prevent escape, and retrieve stolen assets, and intensify the investigation and handling of cross-border corruption cases.

We will punish both bribe takers and givers, investigate and deal with bribe offering in accordance with Party regulations and discipline and the law, take joint punitive actions against key bribe givers, and guard against and crack down on attempts to tempt officials into corruption.

We will strengthen ongoing monitoring of corruption-related risks and hidden dangers and establish mechanisms for coordinating early warning of and punishment for corruption. We will work to see that localities, departments, and organizations where major corruption cases occur completely eradicate the negative impacts of these cases and restore their political ecosystems.

2. Strengthening checks on and oversight over the exercise of power

We will ensure that power is exercised impartially, in accordance with the law, with integrity, and for the people, while preventing and addressing arbitrary decision-making, abuse of power, and dereliction of duties.

We will refine relevant systems and mechanisms in order to enhance alignment between the delegation, exercise, and constraint of power and ensure clearly defined powers and responsibilities, transparent procedures, and traceable records. On this basis, we will tighten regulation and oversight over the allocation and exercise of power and promptly identify problems and correct deviations, thereby confining the exercise of power to an institutional cage in a better-conceived and more effective way.

Focusing on pivotal links such as policy formulation, deliberation, decision-making, review and approval, regulation, law enforcement, and the administration of justice, we will ensure that relevant duties and authorities, boundaries of the exercise of power, and working procedures are clearly defined and that discretionary powers are exercised in a procedure-based manner, so as to eliminate any possibilities for rent-setting and rent-seeking.

We will work faster to develop mechanisms for regulating and placing checks on the exercise of power in key sectors and new areas. Lists of powers in key sectors and lists of micro and small powers at the primary level will be introduced, and the systems for recording and reporting leading officials who attempt to intervene in judicial activities or influence the handling of specific cases will be fully implemented.

3. Fortifying the cultural-ethical foundations for upholding integrity and resisting corruption

We will promote a culture of integrity in the new era by creating richer content and communicating it through diverse platforms. It is essential to provide education and guidance for Party members and officials to help them maintain self-respect, conduct self-examination, and observe the strictest discipline even when unsupervised and when handling minor matters to ensure that they consciously resist corruption and prevent moral decline.

To cultivate a healthy, positive political culture within the Party, we will promote the ideals, convictions, values, moral principles, sense of discipline, and legal awareness embedded in the Party’s new theories to nurture political integrity among Party members and officials.

The culture of integrity will be advanced as an integral part of our drive to promote the core socialist values, and integrity education will be incorporated into the national education system to foster a social atmosphere honoring integrity and denouncing corruption.

New mechanisms will be developed to raise the awareness of integrity both online and offline, with specific content provided and methods employed at different levels and in different categories to make our communication and education more targeted and effective. We will leverage the role of diligence and integrity models in inspiring and guiding Party members as well as the role of cases of discipline and law violation in warning and deterring.

We will urge leading officials to take the lead in cultivating a cordial and clean relationship between government and business; fostering close bonds, good education, and fine traditions in family; and rigorously supervising their family members and staff.

4. Better preventing corruption through a holistic approach

We will conduct in-depth research to grasp the patterns of anti-corruption efforts in the context of the socialist market economy, strengthen anti-corruption laws and regulations, and take simultaneous, coordinated, and comprehensive steps to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to commit corruption, thus eradicating the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption.

We will improve the mechanisms for coordination and cooperation between discipline inspection and supervision organs and relevant departments under the unified leadership of Party committees, advancing integrated governance through coordination across the entire chain.

To promote rectification and improve governance through typical cases, we will take targeted measures to address instances of systemic and sector-specific corruption discovered in major cases. This entails improving relevant institutions and mechanisms after the investigation and handling of cases as well as eliminating loopholes in the exercise of power, regulatory blind spots, and institutional gaps. In doing so, we will establish a closed-loop system for oversight, case handling, rectification, and governance.

Keeping attuned to the new developments and features of corruption, we will promote the building of a digital system for discipline inspection and supervision and a big data platform for overseeing the exercise of power in the public sector. All this will give us sharper eyes in combating corruption. 

VIII. Running the Party through Institutions and Regulations

Strengthening Party regulations and institutions represents a long-term, fundamental strategy for ensuring full and rigorous Party self-governance. We must uphold the Party Constitution as the fundamental code of conduct for all Party members, deepen institutional reforms related to Party building, and ensure the unity of law-based governance of the country and regulation-based self-governance of the Party, thus providing strong institutional support for persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance.

1. Improving the framework of Party regulations and institutions

It is necessary to make well-conceived plans for formulating Party rules and regulations. Meanwhile, we will take coordinated steps to enact, revise, abolish, and interpret these rules and regulations, promote systematic integration, and ensure that all efforts complement and align with each other.

Party regulations and institutions should be formulated and improved in line with the actual needs of persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance, and institutional shortcomings identified should be addressed in a timely manner. In instituting rules and regulations, we must ensure that they are responsive to prominent problems, practicable, and effective. We will also improve the mechanism for interpreting Party rules and regulations and the mechanisms for aligning and coordinating them with state laws and regulations.

2. Enhancing the implementation of institutions

We will enhance the binding force of institutions and ensure that all are equal before institutions, that no one enjoys special privileges when it comes to compliance, and that no exceptions are made in enforcement.

We will encourage Party members and officials to consciously study, abide by, act in line with, and uphold the Party Constitution. We will promote transparency and enhance training in Party rules and regulations.

We will ensure institutional compliance and oversight throughout the entire process of the work of Party organizations as well as Party members and officials and in every aspect of governance across all regions, departments, sectors, local communities, and organizations. This is an essential measure to guarantee the authority and effectiveness of institutions across the board at all times. We must resolutely rectify instances of ignoring orders and prohibitions and guard against selective, curtailed, and distorted implementation to prevent our institutions from running null and void.

3. Eliminating hidden rules

It is essential that we establish clear rules and promote transparency in Party and government affairs. We will educate and guide Party members and officials in upholding principles, observing the law and discipline, and following the right path. Everyone must consciously oppose and resist unspoken practices in exercising power, implementing policies, competing for projects, selecting and appointing officials, and assessing performance for exemplary work. We must take firm action to curb malpractices such as cultivating connections or currying favor with higher-ups, placing connections above principles, acting at the behest of informal notes instead of statutory rules, putting a price on every official duty, and making backroom deals. We must resolutely resist the rules of commercial dealings and the relationships of dependency eroding intraparty conduct.

We will improve the reporting mechanisms to ensure rigorous investigation and punishment of those colluding with or acting as political brokers and political swindlers. We will also establish systems to analyze and review similar cases along with those for implementing remedial measures and issuing relevant notifications. We will improve the mechanisms for ongoing monitoring, assessment, and improvement of the political ecosystem.

Persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance entails further improvement to Party and state oversight systems. We will ensure that Party committees (leading Party members groups) exercise general oversight and strengthen their leadership over various oversight bodies. The Party’s regulations on internal oversight will be revised.

The dual leadership system for discipline inspection and supervision will be improved to ensure that the discipline inspection and supervision commissions at the next level up lead the efforts in conducting oversight and inspection and investigating and handling corruption cases. At the same time, collaboration between relevant organizations will be enhanced for better performance, so that disciplinary oversight, supervisory oversight, and oversight conducted through dispatched teams and inspection tours will be better coordinated and aligned.

The oversight resources and organizations at village, township, and county levels will be fully leveraged to improve the primary-level oversight system, and the mechanisms for higher-level oversight and cross-jurisdiction oversight will be refined. We will also ensure that the channels for public oversight are kept open and that oversight and governance are well aligned at the primary level.

Intraparty oversight will be further integrated and work efficiently with other forms of oversight to create synergy, including oversight by people’s congresses, democratic oversight, administrative oversight, judicial oversight, audit-based oversight, accounting oversight, statistics-based oversight, public oversight, and oversight through public opinion.

The Party’s policy on discipline inspection will be fully implemented, the regulations on discipline inspection will be thoroughly enforced, routine, special, random, and higher-level inspections will be effectively conducted, and new methods will be introduced. Follow-up review will be strengthened to ensure that rectifications are made accordingly and relevant results are put to practical use. Inspections at different levels will be coordinated, and village-level inspections will be conducted in a more effective way. All this will see that inspections serve as a powerful tool of comprehensive oversight.

Persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance is the common political responsibility of all Party members. Attaching crucial importance to the responsibility system for Party self-supervision and self-governance, we must ensure that Party committees (leading Party members groups) fulfill the principal responsibility, commissions for discipline inspection shoulder the responsibility for oversight, secretaries of Party committees (leading Party members groups) are the first in the line of responsibility, and other members of leadership teams fulfill the responsibility for Party self-governance alongside their administrative duties, while rank-and-file Party members and officials assume their specific responsibilities in this regard. In doing so, we will put in place a robust, unified system where all sides perform their respective responsibilities in close collaboration.

Party committees (leading Party members groups) at all levels should take the initiative and make earnest efforts to advance Party self-supervision and self-governance, seeing that the pressure is felt at each link along the chains of responsibility. To strengthen oversight and guidance, those at or above the county level should hear, at least once every year, their leading members’ reports on fulfilling Party self-supervision and self-governance responsibilities.

Commissions for discipline inspection (dispatched discipline inspection and supervision teams) at every level should effectively fulfill their responsibilities for oversight. They should, at least once every six months, submit reports to the next-higher-level commissions (authorities dispatching such teams), expounding on the performance of the leading members of Party committees (leading Party members groups), especially those in top posts, in fulfilling duties and exercising power, as well as their own performance in assuming oversight responsibilities.

All departments of Party committees should fulfill their duties and work in unison. Leading officials, especially high-ranking ones, should practice strict self-discipline, earnestly fulfill their responsibilities, and conduct rigorous management within their jurisdictions, setting an example in advancing Party self-supervision and self-governance. We should ensure that Party building efforts across all levels and sectors are grounded in reality, aimed at delivering tangible results, and free of pointless formalities. Furthermore, relevant performance assessment mechanisms will be improved, so that those who have failed to effectively carry out Party self-supervision and self-governance responsibilities and caused serious problems in this regard are strictly held to account.

History sheds light on the future, and hard work paves the way to monumental achievements. On its magnificent journey, the Communist Party of China has forged the following fine qualities: dedication to the pursuit of truth—ensuring that the Party always advances in the right direction; deep roots among the people—ensuring that the Party always stands on a solid foundation; determination to shoulder its historic mission—ensuring that the Party always holds the strategic initiative; readiness to adapt to the trends of development—ensuring that the Party always remains at the forefront of the times; courage and ability to carry on its fight—ensuring that the Party always maintains firm confidence in victory; and commitment to self-strengthening—ensuring that the Party always retains its vitality.

The tremendous changes that have taken place in the Chinese land over more than one hundred years have proven that our Party has fulfilled its responsibility to history and lived up to the expectations of the people. It deserves to be called the vanguard of the Chinese working class and the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.

Great, glorious, and correct, the Communist Party of China has remained true to its founding mission despite countless challenges, pressing ahead toward its goals with determination and fortitude. On the journey ahead, we will bear firmly in mind that it is imperative that we never forget our original aspiration and founding mission, that we remain modest, prudent, and hard-working, and that we have the courage and ability to carry on our fight. We will remain clear-minded and determined to meet any tests, courageously carry out a great struggle with many new features of the times, and resolutely overcome any difficulties and obstacles on the road ahead to create a brighter future.

Let all of us in the Party rally more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Let us forge ahead with dedication and enterprise, persevere with full and rigorous Party self-governance, and continue to break new ground in supervising, governing, developing, and strengthening the Party in the new era. Let us unite and lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a tireless effort to build China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advance national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.

* The four forms are: 1) criticism and self-criticism activities and oral and written inquiries, which are to be conducted regularly to ensure that those who have committed minor misconduct are made to “redden and sweat”; 2) light penalties and minor organizational adjustments to official positions, which are to be applied in the majority of cases; 3) heavy penalties and major adjustments to official positions, which are to be applied in a small number of cases; and 4) investigation and prosecution, which are to be undertaken in a very small number of cases involving serious violations of discipline and suspected criminal activity.