China’s Communist Party brings in new rules to regulate faith, loyalty and performance
Regulations target members who are not guilty of serious breaches but ‘lack revolutionary spirit’ or fail to pay membership fees on time
The new rules released by the party’s general office on Thursday, decree that underperforming party members, whose conduct might not warrant a formal corruption investigation, be disqualified from the party, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Comprising 27 articles, the rules are “crucial for exercising full and rigorous” party self-cleansing, according to Xinhua, quoting an official from the Central Organisation Department, the party’s top personnel office.
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Unlike disciplinary measures imposed on party members who violate the party’s discipline, for example through corruption, this new set of regulations specifically targets party members who “lack revolutionary spirit, fail to fulfil their party obligations, or no longer meet party membership criteria”, the official told Xinhua.
It is essential for establishing a team of party members with “stronger beliefs, better political reliability, superior qualities, stricter discipline and more significant contributions”, the official said.
According to Xie Maosong, a senior research fellow at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, party membership is a necessity for those who want to climb the political or social ladder, but that many slack off after joining the party.
“The party is already very big. While it is growing in numbers, it must also control the quality of people who are in the party,” Xie said.
