Communist Party cadres have been put on notice over governance and performance appraisals as the ruling body counts down to leadership changes across the country and the start of the next five-year plan.
In a campaign that will continue until July, officials from the county level up have been told to correct any deviations from the “correct” line in their own duties and in assessments of those under their watch.
In an article on Wednesday, state news agency Xinhua suggested that breaches of this standard might range from forming cliques to building white elephants.
The campaign was launched on Tuesday with a meeting in Beijing convened by Cai Qi, the party’s top ideology chief and fifth-ranked official. Li Xi, the head of party discipline and anti-corruption work, also took part. Both men are members of the party’s innermost circle, the Politburo Standing Committee.
At the meeting, party committees at all levels were urged to make this campaign a key task for strengthening the organisation this year.
They were also told to make their assessments based on conditions on the ground, responding to the realities of the various levels, regions, fields and industries.
The meeting followed the release of a notice from the party’s Central Committee to members about the campaign on Monday.
According to Xinhua, the notice said the campaign was meant to support the implementation of the 15th five-year plan, an economic blueprint expected to be formally adopted at the annual legislative session next month.
The notice also said officials should look to President Xi Jinping’s past remarks on governance to ensure their actions were for the benefit of the public.
The article on Wednesday quoted several speeches by Xi to clarify the “correct” and “incorrect” views of governance performance.
“The incorrect views of governance performance stem from personal or small group interests, short-sightedness, deception and reckless actions, and constructing ‘projects to showcase political achievements’,” Xi was quoted as saying.
“[These failings] leave hidden dangers and arouse strong dissatisfaction among the public.”
Xinhua took aim at officials who blindly borrowed to fund construction, used simplistic and crude methods for development and governance, and were deceptive and shirked responsibility.
The report added that officials should base their performance targets on practical considerations and research findings.
“Governance performance is not defined solely by cold, hard numbers. Whether the people have truly benefited is the most crucial standard for evaluating performance,” it said.
The article also urged officials to view governance performance from a long-term, national perspective.
The campaign comes at a critical time in the party’s political calendar.
Preparations are understood to already be under way for the party’s national congress next year, a five-yearly event that will usher in a new Central Committee and possibly a major leadership reshuffle.
Before the congress, lower-level party and government bodies – from the township to the provincial level – will meet and complete their own leadership transitions.
This was spelled out in the article on Wednesday.
It cited a speech by Xi last month, which said this year not only marked the first of the 15th five-year plan, but also the beginning of power transition up to the provincial level.
“At such a time, it’s particularly relevant to emphasise the correct view of appraisal and governance performance,” he was quoted as saying.
Xie Maosong, a senior research fellow at the National Institute of Strategic Studies at Tsinghua University, said that in the past some officials had tried to show their support for government priorities by blindly pursuing industries such as new electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and tourist attractions without considering local conditions.
Some jurisdictions had pursued these kinds of showcase projects a decade ago but were still dealing with the heavy debt and long-term problems they induced.
“This campaign aims to systematically educate and guide officials towards a ‘correct view’ of governance performance,” he said.
“This year marks the start of the 15th five-year plan, and local officials are also developing local economic plans based on it … This campaign will help ensure the 15th five-year plan is implemented more realistically.”
Xie said the campaign would also be a factor in selecting and promoting officials.