Tongfang Academy
Micro Party Class · Issue 326
Use “investigation” and “treatment” in a coordinated manner to effectively block the evolution of corruption and misconduct.
“Theoretical cultivation is the core of the comprehensive quality of Party members and cadres. Theoretical maturity is the foundation for political maturity, and political steadfastness stems from theoretical clarity.” For Party members and cadres, fostering a fine academic style and strengthening theoretical education are both fundamental requirements for cultivating Party spirit and an inescapable political responsibility.
Tongfang Law Firm provides all its lawyers with learning opportunities in the form of micro-party classes, thereby enhancing their ideological and political awareness as well as their spirit of learning and inquiry. By establishing a long-term educational mechanism, the firm has created a new platform for self-education and self-improvement.
General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, pointing out that we must deepen the integrated approach to investigating and addressing both misconduct and corruption. He emphasized the need to consistently integrate efforts to uphold integrity, enforce discipline, and combat corruption, using “joint investigation” to severely punish issues involving the intertwining of misconduct and corruption, and employing “joint governance” to eliminate the common root causes underlying both. This reflects our Party’s profound understanding of the laws governing Party conduct and integrity building, as well as its accurate grasp of the stage-specific characteristics of the anti-corruption struggle. It also charts a practical path for further deepening and sustaining the integrated efforts to combat misconduct and corruption under the new circumstances, and for continuously eradicating the soil and conditions conducive to the breeding of corruption.
Although unhealthy tendencies and corruption differ in their manifestations and degrees of harm, they are deeply interconnected, share the same root causes, and are mutually intertwined. At their core, both stem from wavering ideals and beliefs and the loss of Party principles. On the one hand, unhealthy tendencies breed and conceal corruption; often, corruption is the result of the “Four Winds” transforming from quantitative changes into qualitative ones. Early signs and tendencies in work style represent the nascent stage of corruption’s degeneration. Many officials who have been investigated and punished did not initially engage in large-scale corruption or exhibit insatiable greed. Rather, they first “broke down” in seemingly minor issues—such as a single meal or other small matters of conduct—gradually slipping down the path of moral decay and corruption. On the other hand, corrupt practices fuel and exacerbate unhealthy tendencies, even giving rise to new problems in work style. Work-style issues provide opportunities for corruption, while corruption, in turn, intensifies these work-style problems, creating a vicious cycle. The issue of the integration of unhealthy tendencies and corruption not only tarnishes the image of the Party and the government but also erodes and weakens the combat effectiveness of the cadre ranks, seriously damaging the relationship between the Party and the people. The progression from unhealthy tendencies to corruption—the integration of the two—is a regular pattern in their evolution, and we must therefore insist on investigating and addressing them jointly. If we only tackle unhealthy tendencies without investigating corruption, work-style problems will persist endlessly; if we only address corruption without paying attention to work style, the achievements made in combating corruption cannot be consolidated or sustained.
We must deeply grasp the intertwined nature of unhealthy tendencies and corruption, adopting a “simultaneous investigation” approach to severely punish issues where these two phenomena are intertwined. On the one hand, we should “investigate corruption through unhealthy tendencies,” preventing the phenomenon of “covering up corruption with unhealthy tendencies,” and thoroughly uncovering corruption problems such as power-for-money deals and power-for-power deals lurking behind unhealthy practices. On the other hand, we should “correct unhealthy tendencies by addressing corruption,” meticulously examining作风建设 issues like hedonism and extravagance that lie behind corrupt activities, ensuring that we “focus on major issues without neglecting minor ones.” At present, we must persistently and rigorously address the “Four Winds,” focusing on violations committed in defiance of regulations, hidden and evolving forms of misconduct, issues seriously disrupting market order, and those placing undue burdens on grassroots levels. We should trace clues related to unhealthy tendencies and corruption systematically, carefully screening and investigating each lead. We must prioritize key issues, critical areas, and specific targets, intensifying our efforts to investigate and crack down on corruption. We should deepen the practice of investigating both bribery and corruption together, strictly punishing abuses of power, dereliction of duty, improper decision-making, and collusion between government officials and business interests. We must strengthen coordination among various departments within the discipline inspection and supervision agencies, enhance collaboration between discipline inspection and supervision authorities and departments such as public security, auditing, taxation, and market regulation, reinforce cooperative mechanisms, improve consultation systems, and promote information sharing. By tracing the threads of “unhealthy tendencies,” we can unravel the tangle of “corruption,” making concerted efforts to overcome the challenges of identifying, gathering evidence for, and characterizing new and hidden forms of corruption. We must accurately monitor the dynamics of unhealthy tendencies and corruption, thereby building a synergistic force for simultaneous investigation of both phenomena.
We must promote the simultaneous investigation and treatment of both misconduct and corruption, ensuring that we not only take serious measures in “investigation” but also achieve tangible results in “treatment.” Simultaneous treatment means addressing both the symptoms and root causes in a systematic and comprehensive manner, precisely identifying and rectifying those作风建设 issues that are prone to evolving into corruption, and targetedly eliminating the underlying conditions that give rise to corruption—thus achieving the effect of “correcting misconduct by tackling corruption.” Currently, after a period of intensive rectification, the “Four Winds” problems have continuously transformed and upgraded, taking on new guises. The stock of existing corruption has yet to be fully eradicated, while new cases continue to emerge, making the anti-corruption task still daunting and arduous. This calls for us to constantly study the new situations and tasks confronting our efforts in improving work styles and fighting corruption, and to uphold the integrated approach of strengthening Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline. Regarding issues of work style, we must promptly identify and correct them, reversing formalism and bureaucratic practices so that cadres can focus their energy on practical action and taking responsibility. As for corruption, we must relentlessly punish corrupt acts to serve as a strong deterrent, while at the same time conducting thorough analyses of systemic loopholes and continually enhancing and perfecting our anti-corruption toolkit. We must also strengthen the building of a culture of integrity for the new era, urging Party members and cadres to firmly establish the right views on power, performance, and career. On one hand, we should enhance the effectiveness of using cases to drive reform and governance, promoting the improvement of mechanisms that constrain and supervise the allocation and operation of power, and strengthening timely early warnings and oversight of situations such as spouses, children, and their spouses of leading cadres engaging in unauthorized business activities. On the other hand, we should advance the establishment of a political ecology analysis and assessment mechanism under the unified leadership of Party committees, coordinated by disciplinary inspection commissions, and involving collaborative efforts among relevant departments, resolutely severing chains of corruption transmission, collusion between officials and businesspeople, and parasitic networks of fraudsters, thereby continuously shrinking the space for corruption to breed.
Simultaneously investigating and addressing both misconduct and corruption is not only a crucial approach to tackling persistent problems in work style but also an essential measure for eradicating the very soil and conditions that give rise to corruption. The integrated approach of investigating and addressing misconduct and corruption means effectively linking investigation with rectification, thereby establishing a robust closed-loop system encompassing case handling, governance, supervision, and education. This approach aims to cut off the root causes of misconduct and corruption, achieving both immediate and long-term solutions. By seamlessly integrating “investigation” and “rectification” to block the evolution of misconduct and corruption—both “investigating corruption through misconduct” to thoroughly uncover clues and “correcting misconduct through corruption” to achieve two-way breakthroughs—we can continuously refine and improve the mechanism for integrated investigation and rectification of misconduct and corruption. In doing so, we will turn small victories into major ones, consistently unleashing the comprehensive effectiveness of governing work styles and punishing corruption, and steadily advancing the deepening of efforts to uphold integrity, enforce discipline, and combat corruption in a coordinated manner.
Source | People's Daily Online, Official Website for Party History Study and Education
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 327: Investigating and Addressing Both Corruption and Bad Conduct Simultaneously—Deepening the Approach of Treating Both Symptoms and Root Causes.
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Issue 325: Strengthen the Battle Fortress and Solidify the Foundation of Governance
