Plenum to press for personnel changes

The forthcoming sixth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee aims to strengthen Party discipline to uphold the central committee's authority, as China prepares for its next Party Congress late next year, analysts said.

The plenum, which will be held from October 24 to 27, will include the submission of a work report to the CPC Central Committee by the Political Bureau, review of key issues concerning the comprehensive and strict management of the Party, a draft on the norms of intra-Party political life under the new situation, and amendments to an intra-Party supervision regulation, according to a meeting held by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau on Tuesday.

"Each plenary session has its general function and the sixth plenum is always about developing socialist culture and ethics. And intensifying intra-Party supervision and governing the political life within the Party top the agenda of this year's sixth plenum," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Chongqing Committee, told the Global Times.

The third plenum usually focuses on major political and economic reforms, the fourth on rule of law and the fifth on reform.

"Combined, they outline the CPC Central Committee's overall strategy of leading China," Su said.

Su also pointed out that aside from discussions on State policies and party affairs, personnel changes on the provincial level and adjustments to members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau may also occur, since the next Party Congress will take place late next year.

Institutionalizing discipline

"The two documents submitted to the plenum are a sign that intensifying Party discipline is not a temporary campaign but will be institutionalized with detailed and practical regulations," Xu Xing, a professor of politics at the Zhou Enlai School of Government at Nankai University, told the Global Times.

Tuesday's meeting proposed that Party members should make new efforts to uphold the authority of the Party Central Committee and follow the Party's political discipline. It requires them to consciously accept intra-Party supervision as well as public supervision.

"Intra-Party supervision is the basic and primary form of supervision, and only by pushing forward other forms of supervision alongside intra-Party supervision can we guarantee the comprehensive and strict management of the Party," read a statement released after the Tuesday meeting.

Xu said that the key to governing China hinges on the Party, and strict governance of political life within the Party is expected to ensure that Party organizations perform their duties.

President Xi Jinping has frequently called for continuing efforts to strictly govern the CPC.

During the sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC in January, Xi said that discipline must be stricter than law to rein in all Party members.

And he also highlighted graft-busters as the main force behind CPC self-governance, saying CPC committees at all levels must support the work of discipline inspection commissions and urged these graft-busters to set a high bar for themselves and take the lead in defending the Party constitution.

The Party needs to learn from the string of campaigns and regulations on governing the Party since the 18th Party Congress as well as update guidance documents on intra-Party political life amid new and lingering issues, said Su.

Su also noted the need to manage the relationship between politics and commerce and abiding by a law-based administration under the CPC's leadership are new issues the Party faces.