Forming a clean governance system

The complexity and pervasive nature of corruption requires us to employ comprehensive and systematic strategies to deal with it, and this is the key to preventing failure in anti-corruption efforts. Currently, it's necessary to push forward the work at a coordinated and stable pace. Corruption erodes the legality of the Party and the government, and also compromises the whole of society's interests. The state and society need to actively cooperate to jointly fight corruption. Such a coordinated anti-corruption model requires the strengthening of anti-corruption efficiency of both state power and society, and also cross-border cooperation between the two.

In terms of the public power system, anti-corruption must be upgraded to one of the state's primary functions, with basic laws on anti-corruption being promulgated at a state level. It's important to develop a fully functioning clean political system and also a working mechanism to strengthen a system where supervisors are first to be placed under supervision. It's also necessary to intensify the general public's anti-corruption capability, by taking measures such as enlisting the general public's monitoring, reporting, cooperation and assistance, and to promote the whole of society's anti-corruption awareness, techniques and legal awareness. As for trans-border cooperation, we need an anti-corruption network, based on Internet technologies, laws and regulations in addition to various effective social systems.

A coordinated system network for anti-corruption work is important. In such a system, the government's power operates transparently under the public's supervision. Effectively dealing with corruption is a strategic mission for the construction of a system of clean politics, while the establishment of effective anti-corruption systems is the fundamental route to executing this strategy. The development of such a system must be methodically undertaken with every component being carefully designed and measures within the system being strictly implemented.

First, every policy and measure which is able to effectively fight corruption or has been proved effective should be developed and stabilized. Second, every policy and measure should be coordinated within the framework of the whole system. With the implementation of housing information networking, unified registration of fixed assets, and the declaration and publication of statistics on international receipts and payments, officials' property declaration system will be strengthened. Third, it's necessary to round up the supplementary functions of nonprofessional anti-corruption policies and measures, such as various real-name registration systems and public monitoring measures. These measures will help to offer some clues which will aid authorities in tracking abuses of power.

When the actual executors of public power enjoy an absolute monopoly over resources and have the freedom to make their own decisions, while failing to honor their responsibilities, corruption inevitably rears its ugly head. With the new challenges of modernization, the expansion of public authority has become a tendency and this will create more potential for corruption to take place. Therefore, it's necessary to make clear the scope of the authorities' power by pushing reforms deeper into various aspects of public and political life, so as to reduce the various misdeeds of officials. Lasting and painstaking efforts to combat corruption in various forms are needed before public power can really operate in accordance with the law in a transparent way.

This is an edited excerpt of an article published in the Beijing-based Study Times, a publication of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee