Underperforming Chinese officials will face demotion or lose their jobs under new rules announced by the country’s elite Politburo, state media said on Saturday.
Officials who break Communist Party rules, or are found to be corrupt, irresponsible or incompetent face “organisational adjustment”, which is a euphemism for demotion or dismissal, the state-run China Daily reported.
The new regulations were approved at a Politburo meeting on Friday presided over by President Xi Jinping, the paper’s online version said. The rules are to be adopted on a trial basis, it added, without giving details.
Xi has overseen a crackdown on deep-seated corruption since assuming power in late 2012, vowing to go after powerful “tigers” as well as lowly “flies”.
“There can be no rest or turning back in our anti-corruption drive,” Xi told the Politburo, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.
“We must discipline violators seriously, making no exceptions for the powerful, not indulging minor offences and not letting violators go, even if they are legion,” Xi added.
Last year, Premier Li Keqianq lambasted Chinese officials for being “lazy and slack” in carrying out Beijing’s policy directives, as they kept their heads down to stay out of trouble during the president’s anti-graft campaign.
“Just muddling along” was exactly the same as actually being corrupt, he said at the time.
