Strengthening the System for Checks on and Oversight Over the Exercise of Power

Measures proposed by the Communist Party of China to govern the country by law and improve the socialist democratic system. The essence is to use the system to administer power, affairs and people, let the people supervise power, and let power run under the sun. The main contents include the protection of the people’s right to know, participate, express, and supervise; ensuring that decision-making power, execution power, and supervision power both restrict and coordinate with each other, and ensuring that state organs exercise power in accordance with legal authority and procedures; adhering to scientific, democratic and law-based decision-making, improving decision-making mechanisms and procedures, establishing and improving decision-making accountability and error correction systems; promoting open and standardized power operation, improving the disclosure system for Party affairs, government affairs, judicial affairs, and affairs in various fields; improving inquiry, accountability, economic responsibility audit, resignation, dismissal and other systems; and strengthening inner-Party supervision, democratic supervision, legal supervision, and public opinion supervision. The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to the restriction and supervision of power.

As early as in the Yan'an period, when Mao Zedong answered Huang Yanpei’s question of the historical cycle of “prospering means its strength, declining also means its instant”, he put forward: “Only by letting the people rise up to supervise the government can the government dare not slacken; only when everyone rises up to be responsible, will the government not be ruined, which was promoted as a new democratic road.” In the 1950s, Deng Xiaoping emphasized: “If we are not supervised and do not pay attention to expanding the democratic life of the Party and the state, we will certainly be divorced from the masses and make big mistakes”. Since the Reform and Opening-up, our Party further emphasized the importance of restricting and supervising power. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress proposes to establish a power operation mechanism with a reasonable structure, scientific allocation, strict procedures, and effective constraints, and strengthen supervision of power from the aspects of decision-making and execution, so as to ensure that the power granted by the people is truly used for the benefits of the people.

The “Communist Party of China's Integrity and Self-Discipline Guidelines” and the “Communist Party of China's Disciplinary Measures” promulgated in 2015, adhere to taking the Party Constitution as the fundamental follow, and further specify the requirements of the Party Constitution on discipline and integrity and self-discipline. In October 2016, the 6th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee adopted the “Decision on Strengthening and Improving Some Major Issues of Party Building under the New Situation” and the “Regulations on Inner-Party Supervision of the Communist Party of China”, emphasizing that supervision is the fundamental guarantee for the correct operation of power and an important measure to strengthen and regulate political life within the Party. To improve the power operation restriction and supervision system, it is required to form a scientific and effective power restriction and coordination mechanism. It is required to build a power operation system featured by scientific decision-making, resolute execution, and strong supervision; clarify the responsibilities and powers of the main leaders of the Party and government at all levels, scientifically allocate the power and functions of the Party and government departments and internal institutions, and clarify the responsibilities and tasks; improve the restriction and supervision on the exercise of power by leading cadres, especially the key leading cadres; reform and improve the Party’s disciplinary inspection system and administrative supervision system; improve democratic supervision, legal supervision, and public opinion supervision mechanisms, and attach importance to the use and standardization of Internet supervision. To improve the power operation restriction and supervision system, it is also required to improve the corruption punishment and prevention system. It is required to intensify the investigation and handling of cases, and maintain a tough position in cracking down on corruption; improve the corruption prevention and control system, including that of corruption risk prevention and control, and leading cadres reporting personal matters; improve the disclosure system of Party affairs, government affairs, and other affairs in various fields, and implement disclosure of decision-making, management, services and results; improve the laws and regulations system on combating corruption and upholding integrity, and continuously improve the level of anti-corruption rule of law; and strictly implement the system of accountability for improving Party conduct and upholding integrity.