The revival of the real CPC(2)

A ROD OF IRON

The campaign may have ended, but the CPC is eager for yet more improvement.

"The close of the campaign is not the end of the drive to foster good work styles," Chinese President Xi Jinping told a national meeting marking the end of the campaign on Wednesday.

While acknowledging achievements in checking misbehavior, Xi observed that some results came through fear. Officials were afraid of being seen to break the rules during the high pressure campaign, a far cry from the voluntary efforts to behave which Xi expects.

Addressing the 86 million Party members directly, Xi said all members should accept and understand that the CPC's rule was not sustainable unless Party management improved. The root cause, he said, of bad work styles and "hidden rules" was lax Party management.

The President laid down eight requirements of strict Party management, including clarifying the responsibilities of different parts of the Party machine, combining ideological education with system building, and more supervision of Party affairs by the general public.

Stressing the importance of regulations which are genuinely effective and achieve what they set out to do, Xi said, "Locking a cat up in a bullpen will not work." Existing rules must be properly enforced, he said, and no "special" Party members are immune from discipline.

The campaign was an important step toward a more stringent Party administration and provided the Party with new experiences and a better understanding of how to organize educational activities, Professor Xin Ming said.

To ensure the effects of the campaign last, in the past year the CPC introduced nearly 20 rules to curb waste and regulate spending on officials' travel, use of government vehicles, and construction of official buildings.

Addressing a reception marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of New China on Sept. 30, President Xi called for greater unity within the CPC, and maintenance of a reinforced bond with the people.

"We must never waver in our faith and must never separate ourselves from the people," he said. "All problems that affect the Party's creativity, cohesion and effectiveness must be addressed. All

maladies that harm the purity and advanced nature of the Party must be completely cured. All tumors that afflict the healthy Party organism must be cut away."

"Winning or losing public support is a matter of the CPC's survival or extinction," Xin said. "The campaign has just begun."