China's ruling Communist Party Tuesday published its first ever internal supervision regulations since 1949, to intensify the country's anti-graft campaign.

The 47-article, 10,000-word Regulations of Internal Supervision of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put all the party's 68 million members, including its paramount leader and top decision-making body, under public supervision, said Prof. Chen Dengcai, of the Beijing-based Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

"Its promulgation means the party has decided to base its anti-corruption efforts on stringent disciplinary rules rather than some Party leader's political will," said Li Yongzhong, special research fellow for the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection who participated in the 13-year drafting process.

Under the regulations, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the party's policy-making organ with 25 full and alternate members, must regularly "report its work" to a plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee, which has 198 members.

"Earlier, the Party Constitution only required the Party Central Committee to report its work to the Party's National Congress held once every five years, while the Political Bureau was not obliged to submit any work report," said Chen. "In the future, even Party leaders at the highest level will also be subject to necessary supervision."

The regulations also aim to tighten supervision over the Party's leading officials at all levels across the country to "fill up the existing supervision loopholes", said Prof. Wang Yukai, of the National School of Administration.

In 2003, at least 13 Chinese ministers or ministerial-level officials were prosecuted for corruption, including former Minister of Land and Resources Tian Fengshan and former Party chief of north China's Hebei Province Cheng Weigao.

"From many of these cases, we can see it's really difficult to keep provincial Party bosses under effective supervision. Usually neither the provincial people's congresses (local legislatures) nor the provincial CPC commissions for discipline inspection can carry out effective supervision of provincial Party chiefs, for they control the highest local powers," Prof. Wang said.

Therefore, to curb absolute power and prevent arbitrary behavior, the regulations make detailed stipulations on "collective leadership" and "power division" in Party organs at all levels.

Leaders of Party committees at all levels are required to submit an annual report on their work performance, and on how they are preventing corruption, to the entire committee, while the media will play the role to monitor Party organizations at every level.

The regulations guarantee that every ordinary Party member's supervisory rights will be fully respected and protected, stressing that Party organizations must handle all reports on corruption earnestly and timely.

"Informers who report the truth shall be rewarded, while any retaliatory attempts against them shall be severely punished according to law," the regulations say.

Shao Daosheng, a special research fellow for the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, believes that once fully mobilized, ordinary CPC members could form a powerful force to fight corruption both inside and outside the Party.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the CPC has never ceased its battle against corruption, which it sees as a major threat to Party leadership as well as the country's stability and development. However, official figures of disclosed corruption cases have been steadily rising over the past decade as the country shifts from a planned economy to a new socialist market economy.

From 1992 to 1997, statistics show 669,300 members of the CPC were punished for corruption, while from 1998 to 2002, the number rose to 846,150, a 26.4 percent increase.

Though a recent survey by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection showed that 51.9 percent of the respondents "felt satisfied" with the current anti-corruption efforts, as against 32.8 percent in 1996, Party general secretary Hu Jintao inference should be remembered that "the corruption seedbed still exists, and the country's corruption situation remains severe and the anti-corruption task remains arduous".

Southern Weekend, a popular weekly newspaper, commented that "against such a backdrop, the promulgation of the supervisory regulations not only concerns the 68 million Party members, but also has a bearing on the interests of the entire Chinese people."

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2004)