China’s Communist Party has rolled out a set of new rules to remove incompetent members deemed lagging in their faith, loyalty and performance, in a bid to further strengthen the party’s control over the conduct of its nearly 100 million members.
The new rules released by the party’s general office on Thursday, decree that underperforming party members, whose conduct might not warrant a formal corruption investigation, be disqualified from the party, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Comprising 27 articles, the rules are “crucial for exercising full and rigorous” party self-cleansing, according to Xinhua, quoting an official from the Central Organisation Department, the party’s top personnel office.
Unlike disciplinary measures imposed on party members who violate the party’s discipline, for example through corruption, this new set of regulations specifically targets party members who “lack revolutionary spirit, fail to fulfil their party obligations, or no longer meet party membership criteria”, the official told Xinhua.
It is essential for establishing a team of party members with “stronger beliefs, better political reliability, superior qualities, stricter discipline and more significant contributions”, the official said.
According to Xie Maosong, a senior research fellow at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, party membership is a necessity for those who want to climb the political or social ladder, but that many slack off after joining the party.
“The party is already very big. While it is growing in numbers, it must also control the quality of people who are in the party,” Xie said.
According to the report issued by the Central Organisation Department in June, the party had more than 99.18 million members at the end of 2023, up by more than 1.14 million from 2022.
Xie said that previously the party had mainly relied on the party’s anti-graft watchdogs for self-cleansing but, they can only tackle serious wrongdoing.
Many with smaller conduct problems had previously not resulted in disciplinary action, but the organisation department will now have the necessary means to show the exit to those who were lagging behind, he said.
The official from the Central Organisation Department told Xinhua party branches were now required to closely watch their members’ conduct and set a deadline for underperforming members – such as those failing to take part in regular party activities or pay membership fees in full and on time – to rectify their behaviour.
Party branches will now be able expel members who have lost their ideals and beliefs, waver in their political stance, neglect work assigned to them by the party, are disloyal to the party or fail to take part in party organisational activities for six months without a valid reason.
Depending on the circumstances, they can also persuade those who fail to rectify their conduct to withdraw from the party voluntarily or it can expel them, according to the official.
The official added that members who threaten to leave the Communisty Party as an attempt to gain leverage will be strongly encouraged to leave the party if they do not change their behaviour despite consultation.